Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for attending your company's annual general meeting here from the research center in Beiersdorf-Straße as in previous years. In accordance with the articles of association, I am once again chairing today's annual general meeting. Sitting next to me are the Executive Board and the certifying notary, Dr. Berg. The voting representatives and employees of the company and the technical support team is also present. The Supervisory Board is connected from an adjoining room. One member is ill. We wish them a speedy recovery, and all Supervisory Board members can contact me at any time from the adjoining room. The annual general meeting will once again be held in a virtual format today, modern, environmentally friendly, and cost-conscious, as well as safeguarding all shareholder rights. It allows all shareholders to participate, and the number of participants has increased in recent years.
The next AGM as an in-person meeting is planned at the latest for 2028, and here the shareholder representatives are due to be newly elected. You can make full use of your right to speak, submit motions, and request information via the AGM system. If you would like to speak on the agenda or ask questions today, you will be connected live via video. To exercise your rights, please register via the AGM system. You will find the dial-in details on your access card. I hereby stipulate that the right to information can also be exercised exclusively via video communication. As registered shareholders, you have an exchange platform again. You have the opportunity to communicate with other registered shareholders and exchange ideas via shareholder chat in the AGM system. To use the shareholder chat, please select the corresponding button in the AGM system.
The speech by Mr. Warnery has been available on the company's website since the 15th of April 2026. You will also find the video recording of the annual general meeting today. The annual general meeting will be broadcast publicly via live stream on the Internet in German and with simultaneous interpretation into English. Any private recordings of images or sound are not permitted. If you have registered for the annual general meeting and registered in the AGM system, you can, as in previous years, request a parcel with Beiersdorf products. Please use the corresponding button and enter your shipping address and enjoy our products. The annual general meeting was convened on the 3rd of March 2026 in the Federal Gazette.
The convening notice with the agenda, the proposed resolutions and explanations of your rights and the documents relating to agenda items one to six, excuse me, have been published for you on the company's website. The notification obligations pursuant to Section 125 of the German Stock Corporation Act were observed. I hereby declare that the annual general meeting has been duly convened in due time and form, in accordance with the law and the articles of association. No counter or supplementary motions were received, nor were any video contributions from shareholders received. We have published two written statements on our website from shareholders. The voting procedure. Prior to the annual general meeting, you were already able to cast your vote by submitting a postal vote or electronically via the AGM system, or alternatively by authorizing and instructing the company's voting representative.
If you have not cast your vote yet or not issued a proxy and instructions, please do so in good time via the AGM system. You can use the AGM system to cast votes or authorize and issue instructions, as well as to change and revoke them until the end of today's voting. Should you have several access cards, you must repeat this process for each individual card. Even if you no longer follow the virtual annual general meeting on the Internet, your vote does remain valid. Details on exercising voting rights can be found in the invitation to the AGM and on the company's website, as well as in the information sheet that we sent along with the access cards. We will vote once again by addition. This means that we will count all yes and all no votes. This means that you must actively vote yes.
Shareholders or their authorized representatives who have joined the AGM electronically can also lodge an objection to a resolution of the annual general meeting in the AGM system. The voting process and the counting of votes are monitored by the notary. He has checked the technical conditions of the AGM in advance. All items of the agenda will be discussed by us in a general debate. You can exercise your rights to speak, request information and submit motions via live video link as mentioned. If you would like to speak on the agenda, ask questions or submit motions, please register this in the AGM system. To do so, please enter your request to speak via the video communication button. Please also enter your telephone number and email address so that we can contact you in the event of technical problems.
You will receive a brief confirmation that you have registered to speak. Anyone who has registered a request to speak will be asked to enter a virtual waiting room after the reports from the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board. There, a quick technical check will be done. In this virtual waiting room, you can continue to watch the AGM in real time. You will then be called from the waiting room in turn and connected live to the annual general meeting. Your speaking time should not exceed 10 minutes. If necessary, I reserve the right to formally limit the speaking time. You can view a list of participants via a button in the AGM system. You can find further information on the list of participants there. Let us now move on to the agenda.
Agenda item one relates to the annual financial statements of the Beiersdorf AG, the consolidated financial statements, and the combined management report 2025, as well as the report of the supervisory board and the explanatory report of the executive board on disclosures pursuant to sections 289a and 315a of the German Commercial Code. Mr. Warnery will now report on the company's development in 2005 with an outlook for the current financial year. Mr. Warnery, please.
What you see here, ladies and gentlemen, is a remarkable molecule. One of the most successful innovations in Beiersdorf's history, and one of the most important developments in modern skin care. Our patented active ingredient, Thiamidol. It is effective against pigmentation spots. 10 leading dermatologists worldwide have recently confirmed this once again, and even more, they agree that there is no other dermacosmetic solution for hyperpigmentation anywhere in the world that works better. This innovation is paying off. For Beiersdorf, it has resulted in a business generating EUR 500 million in turnover and a global success. Last year, we launched Thiamidol in key markets such as China, India, and the U.S. This shows you that such innovations drive our growth, and they give us the decisive edge. Ladies and gentlemen, this molecule does not merely represent our success. It also shows how such success is achieved.
Through hard work and not overnight. We tested over 50,000 molecules for Thiamidol. We spent more than a decade researching it, always with a clear goal in mind. Our team got to the root of the causes. It constantly questioned the results. It developed new methods, and continuously improved them. In the end, this is how we made a real difference. It is precisely this attitude that defines Beiersdorf, perseverance, precision, and the determination to keep getting better. With that, a warm welcome to you, dear shareholders. Thank you very much for taking the time to be here today to look back on the year 2025, to take stock, and to look ahead to the future of Beiersdorf. Where have we come from? Where do we stand today? What have we set out to achieve?
I would like to inform you about all that together with some other colleagues. First of all, 2025. It was a challenging year for us, a year of change, geopolitically, in terms of trade policy, in terms of economic policy. The global skincare market has slowed down, and not just marginally. Unfortunately, very significantly. In 2024, the market grew by around 5%. In 2025, we were down to just 1.5%-2%. Currently, growth stands at around 1%. We have not seen such a trend in recent years. This affects the entire industry, all of us, you. It affects me too. A few weeks ago, I told the capital markets and the media that 2026 will be challenging. We will see slight growth at best. You know the reaction. Our share price has fallen significantly. Very significantly.
I want to make it very clear to you, I take this very seriously, and I'll tell you this as well, as CEO, I am responsible for putting Beiersdorf back on the growth path. My colleagues on the executive board and I know what matters now. We must regain trust. That goes for me, my executive board team, all of us at Beiersdorf are taking a self-critical look at our strategy, boldly realigning ourselves and assuming responsibility. Our Win with Care strategy has carried us through the past three years. It has enabled growth, and it has created value. It sets out three clear priorities for us, science-based innovation, global scaling and expansion into new markets, and responsible growth. We are sticking to this strategy even now. I have asked myself, is that enough? Do we need to do more? The answer is, yes.
We need to do more. We are learning. We are adapting. We are not waiting. Only in this way can we make a real difference for our consumers and for you, our shareholders. 2025 was a challenging year. Despite all the difficulties, we have once again achieved a solid result. Our turnover stood at EUR 9.9 billion. We grew organically by 2.4%. Earnings and profitability were once again higher than in the previous year. Last year, we outperformed the global market in skin care. We generated a turnover of EUR 8.2 billion with our brands at the consumer segment, and with that, organic growth of 2.5%. A look at our business segment shows that not all of them performed equally well in 2025. Derma and healthcare were very successful. In two areas, however, we were not satisfied. Firstly, there was our luxury brand, La Prairie.
Their turnover fell organically by 4.5% to EUR 478 million. This was because the luxury market remained volatile, particularly in China. On the other hand, NIVEA had a difficult year. Our turnover grew organically by just 0.9%, reaching EUR 5.5 billion. This result fell short of market expectations and also of our own. There were various reasons for this development. Firstly, the slowdown in the global skincare market. Secondly, we repositioned our business in China. Moreover, key innovations were only launched in the second half of the year. Their impact is therefore only reflected to a limited extent in the full-year results. It is also obvious that not every decision at NIVEA has had the desired effect. Our most important brand, of all things, the brand that, like no other, stands for Beiersdorf and represents the foundation of our success. That is precisely why this result affects me personally.
We immediately set out to analyze the situation. My management team and I are working relentlessly to get NIVEA back on track for growth. The past few months have been intense. We have spoken to our country managers. We have listened to our consumers. We have taken a hard look at ourselves, and we have left no stone unturned. We have reset our priorities, deployed resources more effectively, and shortened decision-making processes. We've become faster. On this basis, we have rebalanced the NIVEA business. This is not an easy path, nor is it a quick one, but it is a necessary one, a path to provide NIVEA with strength, with what this brand deserves. I'll be discussing the details of this shortly with my fellow board member, Grita Loebsack. First, I would like to take a look at our other segments with you.
Take the Derma business, for example. When I took over the Eucerin and Aquaphor brands in 2017, it was still in its infancy. My team and I then set ourselves ambitious goals, and we consistently focused the brands on growth. The success is reflected in the results. Since 2021, we've almost doubled our turnover. In 2025, we reached the EUR 1.5 billion mark, and we have grown organically by 11.7%. That means double-digit growth for the fifth year in a row. This shows you that Derma is and remains a key growth driver for Beiersdorf. The driving force behind this comes from our dermatological expertise, from effective innovations such as Thiamidol or our epigenetic active ingredient, EPICELLINE, and our scientific credibility. Furthermore, our success is based on leading market positions. We have systematically expanded these in 2025, thereby tapping into new customer groups.
For instance, in the U.S., China, India, and Japan. Our healthcare business also performed well. The turnover of the Hansaplast and Elastoplast brands grew organically by 9.3%. It now stands at around EUR 300 million. 2025 was one of the most successful years in healthcare's history. What was particularly important in this regard was our new Second Skin Protection Plaster that we launched last year. This next generation plaster is transparent and ultra thin, and it supports faster healing. It brings professional technology directly into consumers' homes. This demonstrates how we are setting new standards, even in established categories, how we are delivering tangible improvements, and how strategically we invest in research and development. For only in this way we can continue to expand our leading position in this segment now and in the future. Last but not least, tesa made a positive contribution to Beiersdorf's results.
The business grew organically by 1.8%. Turnover amounted to EUR 1.7 billion. The growth driver was tesa's industrial business, in particular consumer electronics with strong momentum coming from China and other Asian markets. The automotive business remained stable. Additional momentum came from printing and packaging solutions and the business with end consumers, particularly through e-commerce. All in all, it is clear that Beiersdorf remains in a very solid position. We have a strong balance sheet and high liquidity. The management board and the supervisory board are therefore once again proposing a dividend of EUR 1 per share for the 2025 financial year. Dear shareholders, we are creating further incentives for investment in Beiersdorf through another share buyback program. As you know, we successfully bought back shares in 2024 and 2025 already, thereby demonstrating that we manage our capital responsibly. This continues to hold true.
That is why we can and intend to buy back our own shares again over the next two years for an amount of up to EUR 750 million. Taken together, reliable dividends and share buybacks, this demonstrates that we are creating long-term value for you, our shareholders. It is also true that things are not getting easier. The skincare market remains subdued. We do not expect a rapid recovery in 2026 either. On top of that, there are ongoing uncertainties due to geopolitical developments, due to raw material prices and exchange rates. The reality is that it is becoming increasingly difficult to plan in these times. We are issuing our forecast deliberately with a clear-eyed view of the headwinds and realism regarding the challenges that lie ahead. We therefore expect flat to slightly positive organic sales growth for 2026.
We expect the operating EBIT margin to be slightly below the previous year's level. Let us now turn our attention to our core brand, NIVEA, and to how we are strategically realigning it. Because NIVEA is our most important brand. It is crucial to Beiersdorf's success around the world. Over the past five years, NIVEA has grown by around 34% and profitability has also improved significantly. This demonstrates the potential of this brand and the high level of ambition that we have for it. That is why we say clearly, this brand can do more, and that is why we are rebalancing the NIVEA strategy. To this end, we are focusing on the following levers. Firstly, the portfolio. Face care, deodorant, and body care are our revenue drivers. We are most successful when we focus on all three categories.
That is why we are shifting our investments in innovation and marketing to strengthen these categories equally. Secondly, local relevance. We are giving our teams in key markets greater decision-making autonomy within a clear global framework so that they can better adapt products and communication to local needs. Thirdly, pricing. NIVEA stands for reliable skincare at fair prices. We are reinforcing this promise with our offerings below the premium price point. The rule that always applies is NIVEA remains NIVEA, the brand that people have valued and loved for many generations. What matters now is implementation. I want you to see just how specific we are in our work to that end. That is why I'm delighted that Grita Loebsack is providing us with an insight today. She's responsible for NIVEA on the Executive Board. A warm welcome, Grita.
Grita has just explained that we are adapting the NIVEA strategy. What does that mean?
Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I'm happy to be here today. We're strengthening what works, and we are making adjustments where we need to take action. NIVEA is the world's largest and most beloved skincare brand. It deserves to grow again.
Why do you think that will work?
Because our approach is data-driven. Over the past months, we've looked at turnover, market share, competition, pricing, and consumer perception. We've analyzed it all and spoken extensively with our colleagues in the markets. That is why we can now act precisely, and we're already seeing in many areas that that's working.
Let's look at our measures. What exactly are we changing in the portfolio?
In recent years, our focus has been on face care. However, for sustainable growth, NIVEA needs a broader base. That is why we are spreading our investments across personal care, deodorant, and face care in the future. Together, these three categories account for around 60% of NIVEA sales. Now, consumers will notice this change through a wider range, better visibility on the shelves, and stronger communication. A good example is our deodorant business in Europe. In the first quarter of this year, we increased our media spend strongly compared to the previous year. Our deodorants were everywhere, on social media, on television, on streaming services, as well as on billboards and digital screens in public spaces. At the same time, we further developed our deodorants with additional larger spray formats and positioned them more prominently in stores.
To this end, we worked with our retail partners on promotional and special offer formats and on shelf placement to ensure that NIVEA stands out more quickly and is easier to find. A key driver in all of this was our innovative Derma Control range with pure hyaluronic acid and vitamins, as well as our established lines such as Black & White and Fresh. Now, by combining innovation with our core range, we were able to attract new customers and at the same time retain loyal consumers. The result is that overall awareness of NIVEA deodorants has risen significantly. After market share losses in 2025, we are now seeing, at the beginning of the year, positive growth in many European countries.
The second lever is local initiatives in our key markets. What does that mean for our international teams?
NIVEA is a global brand, but consumers' needs are not the same everywhere. That is why we are giving our key markets, namely China, the U.S., Brazil, Japan, India, and Indonesia, in addition to Europe, greater scope to adapt global strategies to local conditions, but within a clear NIVEA framework. For instance, if long-lasting scents are becoming more prevalent in personal care in the U.S. and gel textures are gaining importance in India, we prepare appropriate initiatives to address exactly those needs in a NIVEA way. If we see that something is working in the market, we will be quicker in bringing it from the development stage to the stores.
This allows us to respond even better to the needs of consumers around the world. NIVEA is for everyone. This also plays a crucial role in pricing. How is this aspect taken into account?
Now, for us, one thing is clear. NIVEA stands for good value for money. We tailor our range to the realities of life and to the budgets of our consumers. For example, we offer smaller packaging sizes that make it possible to try our products for the first time or repurchase them even on a tighter budget. Take Thailand, for instance. There, face care is a huge market. 50% of it is about an even complexion, and Thiamidol is exactly the right answer to this. However, our market share there was below 2% because we didn't offer sachets. These smaller single-use packs account for over half of the market. What did we do? We launched our LUMINOUS630 Skin Glow Serum in addition to other formats in 7-milliliter sachets. The same efficacy, but a significantly lower price barrier to entry.
The result is that our serum in sachets is now one of the top sellers, and it has doubled the turnover of our Luminous range in Thailand.
A great example, and yet NIVEA must remain NIVEA. What exactly does that mean?
That's a very good question indeed. We know it, you know it, and market research also proves it very clearly. People associate NIVEA with safeness, safety, closeness, and family. One sentence has particularly stuck with me. "NIVEA feels like being wrapped in a warm towel." At the same time, many say they notice NIVEA less in their everyday lives than they used to. This also has something to do with the focus points in our communication. Now I've brought along two campaigns for our NIVEA body care range. As you can see in the campaign behind me, our focus in recent years has been on scientific achievement, on the ingredients and their efficacy, and on the superiority of our products.
In our new campaign, we also show our product superiority, of course, but we're also deliberately returning to what NIVEA stands for as a brand, namely closeness, shared moments, warmth, and family. We bring back NIVEA-ness. As you can see in the new body campaign that we are now going to look at together.
[Presentation]
At the same time, we bring NIVEA back into people's lives by accompanying moments that are important to them. For example, Christmas in Europe, Diwali in India, and the Chinese New Year.
Finally, how do we measure our success?
Our initiatives take time. The examples we've shown today are just the beginning. We're now consistently rolling out these steps across the entire brand and all regions. We measure progress with clear metrics such as sales, market share, market penetration, brand strength, and relevance. We're already seeing the first positive signs, and we're building on that now.
Thank you, Grita. As you can see, we have clear priorities that our teams are consistently putting into practice. With that, we want to put NIVEA back on top. Let us now look to the future. We are focusing on two key areas. Firstly, new markets where we are not yet present or where we can grow significantly are white spaces. The year 2025 has shown the potential that lies here. One example is Japan. There we launched Eucerin in one of the world's leading skincare markets. We have also systematically expanded our business in India, including through the launch of Eucerin. The brand immediately gained strong momentum, and it has attracted significant attention from dermatologists. At the same time, we have expanded our premium portfolio in India with Chantecaille and La Prairie.
This means we are present there across all price segments from NIVEA right up to the luxury segment. This opens up additional growth opportunities for us. India is one of the fastest-growing skincare markets in the world. The middle class is growing, and the demand for high-quality skincare is rising. The market is currently worth around $8.4 billion, and it could roughly double by 2033. Another example is China. There, we launched Thiamidol on the domestic market for the first time in 2025 with the NIVEA and Eucerin brands. In February of this year, we even launched it with La Prairie, a milestone for our company. The Eucerin serum is rapidly establishing itself as a leading product against pigmentation spots in the German market there. We are already seeing a market share in the double digits.
This is because this issue is of great importance to many people in China, and scientifically proven efficacy is particularly in demand there. This is precisely where our strength lies, scientifically sound and attuned to people's needs. In this way, we combine global demand with local precision and create sustainable growth. Innovation works best when it makes a tangible difference to people's lives. We demonstrated this with Thiamidol. We're seeing it with EPICELLINE, and we will see it with our next innovation, an active ingredient that helps when the skin is prone to acne. We already discussed this at last year's annual general meeting, and we spoke about the impact of acne on the lives of those affected. We are doing intensive research into solutions for these people, and we have made significant progress in this regard. Since 2018, already, we've been working together with S-Biomedic.
A few years later, we have acquired the startup, a company with proven expertise in the skin microbiome, a habitat for trillions of bacteria, and thus a key factor in skin health. Together, we have further developed technologies and made them available for our innovations. Find out more from Benjamin Ahle, from our research and development team, and Bernhard Paetzold, founder of S-Biomedic. A warm welcome. Bernhard, if you had to explain the skin microbiome using one image, what would it be?
I would say the skin microbiome is like a colorful meadow. Many different plants grow side by side there, and as long as everything is in balance, this ecosystem remains stable. But if individual plants start to take over, the whole system suffers. It's similar on the skin. It's not individual bacteria that are the problem, it's a loss of balance. This must be restored.
Benjamin, Beiersdorf is one of the world's pioneers in the field of skin microbiome research. What distinguishes our work?
Our research into the skin microbiome goes back a very long way, with the first findings dating back to the late 19th century. We've been conducting systematic research in this field since the 1990s. Since 2014 alone, we've carried out over 120 of our own microbiome studies. This is complemented by numerous scientific publications and a broad patent portfolio. This shows that for us, it's not just a trend topic, it is the result of decades of work, and it is the foundation for our innovations today.
Why was the acquisition of S-Biomedic so important, nonetheless?
Well, S-Biomedic brought along something that you cannot simply replicate, very deep, highly specialized expertise in working with so-called probiotics, that is, living microorganisms. Beiersdorf recognized this potential early on and acquired a stake in it as far back as 2018. With the acquisition in 2022, we were able to collaborate even more closely and meaningfully complement our own research. In this way, two strong parts have merged into a greater whole.
Bernhard, what has changed for you since Beiersdorf came on board?
It's like moving from a well-coordinated amateur team to the Champions League. The talent was there, but it was only with Beiersdorf that clinical validation, excellent development, and regulatory expertise came together to turn it into scalable innovation.
Speaking of innovation, Benjamin, what exactly are we working on today?
We've set up a microbiome design platform at Beiersdorf. You can think of it as a toolbox. In it, we pool all of our knowledge on the skin microbiome, and we make it usable. With this platform, we can develop skincare solutions that redefine the way we care for our skin.
Let's look at an example. Acne-prone skin. What's happening here at the microbial level?
A specific type of skin bacterium plays a key role here, Cutibacterium acnes. This bacterium is present on all healthy skin. However, in acne-prone skin, the aggressive variants become predominant, and this can trigger inflammation, and that is visible as spots and pustules.
What does that mean for our development, Benjamin?
We've been working on an active ingredient for acne-prone skin that specifically restores the skin's microbiome's balance, not by attacking everything indiscriminately, but by helping the skin to regulate itself. Our approach, using the skin's own probiotics, is a first in dermacosmetic research.
We'd like to reveal one more thing. The work is paying off. The launch of a product under our Eucerin brand is planned for later this year. Thank you very much, Benjamin and Bernhard. As you can see, we are investing in our innovative strength now and in the future. Just a few weeks ago, we launched the second generation of our venture capital fund to support this. EUR 100 million for new technologies that will shape the future of skincare through effective products for our consumers. In 2026, we will continue to work consistently towards further progress, and we will also make operational progress this year. One thing is clear, realigning a major brand like NIVEA takes time. Many measures do not take effect immediately, but step by step. 2026 will not be a year of quick wins. Where necessary, we will scrutinize decisions and make adjustments.
We know that Beiersdorf needs a strong NIVEA. That is what we are working for day after day, we, the management, and more than 22,000 people around the world. Our thanks go to all of you today. You have achieved great things under challenging conditions, and I thank you, our shareholders, for your trust and for your long-term commitment. In doing so, you're supporting us on our journey towards our goal to become the world's leading skincare company. Because we remain committed to this ambition even in difficult times. Our research shows that progress does not happen overnight. Only perseverance leads to success. That is exactly how we are acting again today. If we continue along this path with determination, we will reap the results for Beiersdorf and for the people who place their trust in us. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much, Mr. Vincent Warnery. You really addressed the serious matter as well as the confidence for the work of all of us, for our customers everywhere in the world. Thank you very much. The report of the Supervisory Board can be found on pages 16-20 of the annual report. There you will also find information on the number of meetings of the Supervisory Board, as well as the board committees and the attendance rates. The Supervisory Board continued to fulfill its duties in 2025 in accordance with the law, the articles of association, the Corporate Governance Code, and the Supervisory Board bylaws. The committees prepared the Supervisory Board resolutions, and the chairs have always provided the Supervisory Board with comprehensive reports.
Topics such as strategy, business development, including the interim financial statements, compliance-related topics, Executive Board matters, and important individual transactions, in particular, transactions requiring approval of regular items on the agenda. Resolution proposals were discussed and examined in detail. The meetings of the Supervisory Board were generally attended by the entire Executive Board. Part of each meeting was held without the Executive Board. The meetings at the beginning of the year focused on the annual financial statements of the previous year, the dividend proposal and share buyback program, and Executive Board matters. The meetings at the end of the year dealt with business development and planning for the following year. The meetings in the middle of the year focused on strategy and sustainability. The Executive Board informed the Supervisory Board in writing and verbally about significant events in a timely and comprehensive manner.
The auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers, audited the annual financial statements, the consolidated financial statement, the combined management report for Beiersdorf AG and the group, the reports on remuneration, the related parties report, and sustainability report. Everything was unqualified opinions, respectively. The supervisory board discussed and examined the financial statement documents and dividend proposal for February until the beginning of March. Based on the results of audit, no objections were to be raised. The supervisory board agreed with the findings of the audit and approved the financial statements, including the reports. Thus, the annual financial statements of Beiersdorf were adopted. The supervisory board also resolved to approve the proposal for the appropriation of profits. On February 26, the supervisory board also took a resolution on the target achievement and total remuneration of the executive board for the year 2025.
The remuneration report of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board can be found in the supplementary documents on our websites under the agenda item six on pages 342-370 of the 2025 annual report. The remuneration report explains the structure and amount of remuneration and also contains further information. It has been continuously and intensively revised in recent years in order to increase clarity and transparency even beyond the legal requirement. Comments from shareholder associations, proxy advisors, investors, and stakeholders. Critical remarks have been taken into account as far as possible. As stated, the auditor has audited and confirmed the remuneration report in accordance with the statutory requirements and also issued an unqualified audit opinion.
Last year, the supervisory board further developed the executive board's remuneration system against the backdrop of the Win with Care company strategy and subjected it to an in-depth review in light of regulatory requirements, market conditions, and the expectations of investors and proxy advisors. The new remuneration system was presented in the 2025 AGM, and it was approved. As part of the ongoing development of the remuneration system, the supervisory board has once again reviewed the appropriateness and customary nature of the remuneration, as well as the horizontal and vertical comparability with the assistance of an external remuneration consultant. The result confirmed the appropriateness. This also applies to remuneration of Mr. Warnery, and all comments are important, and we are looking into them. Now about the most important points.
Instead of share-based remuneration, the new remuneration system at Beiersdorf links the long-term incentive to the development of the company's values. There have been bonuses for first-time appointment and reappointments. As explained in the previous year, we use reappointment bonuses in individual cases. Such reappointment bonuses were fixed at the beginning of the tenure and were agreed ahead of time, so there are no one-time special payments. There are no further reappointment bonuses to be paid. It is also questioned why the supervisory board can increase, like for example, the annual bonus up to 20% or even decrease them. Principally, such a discretion is never used for individualization purposes. Individualization is taken into account through individual targets in annual bonus, which are derived from the common targets depending on the region or function.
For the annual bonus 2025, which represents almost 7% of the target remuneration, the Supervisory Board exercised its discretion by adding a total.
Up to 20% to a total 70% of joint targets depending on target achievement, which is less than 1% of the total remuneration of the members of the Executive Board. Some of you criticized the increase of the target remuneration as of 2025. The Supervisory Board decided on them by the end of 2024, when Beiersdorf's business for several years had been historically growing, and the share price had been getting closer to its historic high. This new target remuneration seemed to be very appropriate and to the largest share it is a variable between 0% and 200% and if it will be achieved, will only be known by the years 2028 or 2029 and 2030, respectively. Annual bonus of the CEO as of 2025 was considerably lowered. A press release compared a high payment to the CEO in the previous year with a lower one in the following year.
The high payment depended on the payment of a four-year bonus. The lower one contained no long-term bonus because this will only be due in the year 2029. As of the 1st of July 2025, Mr. Rasquinet left the Executive Board. We bid him farewell. In last year's Annual General Meeting, there were no further changes to the Executive Board. Now, on the virtual waiting room. All shareholders and shareholder representatives who have registered to speak will now be asked to enter the virtual waiting room step by step. The list of participants can now be viewed by all shareholders logged into the Annual General Meeting via the corresponding button in the AGM system. It is also available to the notary here in the hall.
Regarding the attendance of today's annual general meeting, of the total 242.6 million shares issued by the company, according to the attendance list, we have present 168,709,200 shares, which corresponds to 67.96% of the share capital. In addition, postal votes have been cast for 215,865 shares. They are not registered and therefore do not participate in the annual general meeting. However, they shall be counted in the attendance, and they correspond to 0.09% of the share capital. In total, we have 168,925,065 shares that are represented, and this corresponds to 77.05% of the share capital. The treasury shares held by the company, that's around 9.99% of the share capital, are not entitled to participate or vote and are therefore not represented at this annual general meeting. We are now going to proceed to the general debate on all items on the agenda.
As already mentioned, registered shareholders and shareholder representatives can join the AGM via live video communication. If you would like to speak on the agenda or ask questions and have not yet registered your request to speak via the AGM system, please do so now. Questions, once they have been dealt with, they will be answered and Mr. Warnery might switch to English here and there. Mr. Mirt will also speak in English, and the replies will be translated, interpreted simultaneously into German. All of the other speakers will be speaking German. We currently have five requests to speak so far. Once it is your turn, please tell us your name, tell us who you are speaking for. First of all, we will be hearing from Mr. Neumann from the SdK, the German Association for the Protection of Capital Investors.
After that is Mr. Kraus for the Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger. Mr. Neumann, please. Thank you for being here. The floor is yours.
Yeah. Right. Thank you very much, Professor Pöllath, for handing me the floor. I hope you can hear me. I assume you do. Good morning to everybody. My name, as you've heard, is Markus Neumann, and I speak, as in previous years, for the Schutzgemeinschaft der Kapitalanleger, SdK, and the shareholders represented by it. Mr. Warnery, I have listened to you, and I thought, well, the temporary downturn in growth for NIVEA and the luxury brands, you presented that very nicely. Now I wonder, is that a reason for you, the management and the Executive Board, to hang our heads in shame? I would say no.
Professor Pöllath, in his explanations of the previous years, he has clarified a few things on the remuneration because you have achieved great things in the successful previous years, and whether a temporary slowdown should be overemphasized, well, I doubt it. Which does not mean that growth is not important, because in our economy, growth is important, and we all know
The saying, the merchant doesn't give anything for the past, and it applies here as well. Looking at the report that you have presented, I am very confident. To my perception, you have correctly assessed the situation. You have realigned it, and together with your colleague, you have presented the measures taken for NIVEA. Beiersdorf has a solid base on which to build up upon again. You have an intact business model and over the last years, not the least due to the pressure from investors, you have combined the increase of the dividend and the share buyback. From my point of view, yes, you need to take action, but there's no reason for you to hide your heads and you don't need to hang your head in shame.
Before I address my voting and the questions, I would like to thank the Management and the employees for what they have achieved for us as shareholders. Now looking at the agenda, it's relatively simple. We agree with all the items on the agenda, and I would like to address the dividend item, which separately would normally not be agreeable to SdK, but in combination with the comprehensive share buybacks in the past and the planned ones, it can be agreed to because a large chunk of your profits are handed over to the shareholders. Much on my voting, now let's turn to the questions. I'm not quite happy with the Management and the Supervisory Board when it comes to the turnover forecast. I have stumbled over the merely qualitative assessment. I wondered what a flat sales growth is.
This seems to pull the leg of the people here. There cannot be flat growth. Flat means it's rather stagnating and not growing. I would like to give us not a qualitative assessment, but to quantify this. What does flat mean and what does slightly growing mean? Maybe we can get some orientation here in a percentage. Where do you intend to move? And to what extent do you outperform the inflation rate? And then, Mr. Warnery, I would like to ask you, together with your colleague, you have addressed NIVEA. Now, in the letter to the chairman, or the chairman's letter, I have read that there were challenging conditions in the mass market relating to NIVEA, end quote. What does that mean? Were you just too expensive? Did you set the wrong priorities and neglected body deodorant?
Did that lead to the fact that products were not embraced as much? Did that lead to the turnover not being what you expected? Could you characterize these challenging conditions in the mass market? Then I wondered how, over the reporting year, the EBIT margins for luxury products, not just La Prairie and Chantecaille, have developed as compared to the previous year and what the reasons for the development was. I would like to ask you here explicitly not to give a quantitative response, but a qualitative one. Was that more or less evened out or were there special things? What I welcome and what you have pointed out, Mr. Warnery, in your presentation is the entry into India with La Prairie and Chantecaille. You have explained very well what to expect here.
I would like to know what sales the executive board is expecting here over the next three financial years. The healthcare business went pretty well. Hansaplast is a very interesting brand, and I was wondering why Hansaplast does not enter into professional wound care, where, from my perception at least, higher sales growth and higher margins could be achievable than in retail. Maybe you could say something about that. Looking at the acquisitions of previous years, Coppertone and Chantecaille. For Coppertone, I would like to know what turnovers in US dollars Coppertone has generated since the acquisition in 2019. Maybe you could break down the turnover figures for every single financial year. How does the executive board currently assess the success of this acquisition in retrospect, with a focus on sales and profit development?
The same thing for Chantecaille, where we know that there were already problems there. What revenue has the Chantecaille unit generated in euros during the reporting year, and how does the Executive Board currently assess the success of this acquisition from 2022 in retrospect, focusing on revenue and profit trends? E-commerce, I would like to now know how high the e-commerce revenue has been in the reporting year and how it was distributed across the group's two business divisions. Please let us know what an e-commerce revenue is. How do you distinguish it from non-e-commerce revenues? I would also like to know if e-commerce taken in isolation has been profitable in both segments during the reporting year. The last group of questions that I have relates to the venture capital unit, Oscar & Paul Corporate Venture Capital.
I would like to know who is responsible for this unit on the executive board, what staff and financial resources did this unit have? You mentioned EUR 200 million, but what staffing does it have, and what financial resources did it have in the reporting year and currently? How many investments in startups and how many investments in venture capital funds did this unit hold in the reporting year? How did the investment portfolio develop in the reporting year? Were there any additions or disposals, and if so, why? How is the operating business intended to be supported by the investment in venture capital funds? Or does the group view its investment in such funds primarily as an attractive investment opportunity?
What proportion of its investments in the venture capital sector in the reporting year was channeled through investments in venture capital funds, and what proportion went through investments in startups? That is all I had to say, and I would like to thank you and to the audience for their attention, and I hand back to Professor Pöllath. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Neumann. Now, Mr. Kraus from the German Society for the Protection of the Securities.
Thank you, Chairman, for giving me the floor. My name is Kraus, and I speak on behalf of the DSW, the German Society for the Protection of Securities Holders. Ladies and gentlemen, members of the Executive Board and Supervisory Board, dear fellow shareholders. The first point that I have to criticize, as usual, is the virtual AGM. You actually gave me more input for this point of criticism because while I was in the waiting room and listening to the AGM, I couldn't hear the first four minutes of Mr. Neumann, unfortunately. I actually do not know what statement he made and what questions he asked exactly. Please excuse me if a couple of my questions might be repeating this.
Now, I really welcome the fact that 2025 should see another in-person AGM, and this is due to the fact that the supervisory board will have to be newly elected. I do welcome or would welcome an opportunity for the candidates to present themselves personally. Even in the financial year 2025, I would have appreciated a direct exchange with shareholders, especially in order to address the, let's say, problems at NIVEA in a discussion. Now, in general, Beiersdorf is a traditional business, a strong business with globally known brands, especially NIVEA. However, your goal to become the best skincare company in the world, in the last couple of financial years, wasn't going exactly well. This has been reflected in the share price, which is lagging behind expectations in a significant manner.
Now, I would like to just briefly outline the areas that I want to talk about. I have 18 questions that I brought along today and that I would like to ask. First of all, there are a couple of questions that arise. Thank you, Mrs. Loebsack, for presenting the measures that you planned for NIVEA. Unfortunately, the question that arises is, do these measures not come a little bit late? Was it not possible to foresee this earlier? All of these activities or measures that you are now intensively following up on, should they not have been pushed forward a lot earlier? So much for NIVEA. I have a couple more questions about that with me, too. The other point is the acquisition strategy that you have. You have low organic growth, and your research efforts run in parallel.
Organically, we only stand at 2.4% growth. The question that I have here, more detailed questions will follow, but the overall question is. Is your acquisition strategy may be too defensive, specifically in comparison to others? Then talking about the share price and the dividend, this is, of course, something that will be decided today. For a very long time, Mr. Neumann and myself, Mr. Neumann, you might remember this, we were fighting for the dividend. For a long time, we stood at EUR 0.70, and now we've been fighting for this EUR 1. In the current situation that the company faces and the currently challenging environment for Beiersdorf, I am not going to further question the share price. I will approve this with the votes that I am entitled to. Now, getting down to the individual questions.
With regard to strategy and growth, first question is: Why does the share price underperform compared to key competitors? Second question: What specific measures is the Executive Board planning to improve capital market performance? Third question: Why does Beiersdorf pursue a comparatively cautious acquisition strategy? Fourth question: Is there a specifically defined M&A pipeline, or are there target segments for acquisitions? Fifth question: How does the Executive Board assess the risk of missing out on growth opportunities in the face of competition? Sixth question: Why should the capital market believe that in the next three years, Beiersdorf will create more value than in the last three years? Right. Moving on to NIVEA. The next group of questions. Question seven: What is NIVEA's share of turnover, and how has it developed? Eighth question: What specific measures for the diversification of the brand for portfolio exist?
Ninth question: How is it ensured that NIVEA remains competitive in the long run? A sub-question here is: how do you win over a younger group of customers for the NIVEA brand? Question 10: Are there any scenario analyses internally for a potential decline in the NIVEA brand? The 11th question: Are you placing greater emphasis on special brands to minimize the NIVEA risk? An indication for me here is, for instance, that I saw that you have a new president of Derma & Healthcare internally, and I would like to understand your planning in this regard. Now, talking about capital allocation and dividends. Question number 12 is: What is Beiersdorf's long-term target payout ratio? Question 13: Why is part of the profit being allocated to reserves instead of investing more heavily in acquisitions? Question 14: What return expectations apply to investments and acquisitions?
Now, the last group of questions concerns the Executive Board and its remuneration. Question 15: How does the Executive Board remuneration specifically correlate with the share price performance? Question 16: Is the variable remuneration of the Executive Board structured on a long-term basis and linked to sustainable targets? In my statement about the recommendation for the vote, I'm going to talk about that in more detail. Then question 17: Were there any special payments or discretionary adjustments, and if so, why? Another thing I would like to know is how long are the remaining terms of the current Executive Board contracts, and are any extensions planned if an end of this contract should be imminent? Those were my 18 questions, and with regard to my voting behavior, I can say the following.
Apart from agenda item six, I am going to agree with the Executive Board on all of the other points, and the remuneration of the Executive Board is something I would reject. Formally, I cannot raise any objections, but of course, I do continue to criticize the remuneration system. The ESG components at 2% we think are not weighted strongly enough, so I would appreciate a statement on why the percentage is so low indeed. Another thing that is critical from our point of view is that the remuneration is not sufficiently tied to performance. Pay for performance is the headline here. Of course, there's a low share price performance at the moment, which should be reflected in the remuneration.
Now, even though Beiersdorf is a traditional company in Hamburg, and we believe it is still something to be proud of, for Hamburg to be proud of, and we still hope that you will tackle the challenges in the way that you have described, that you will master them, and that that will also be reflected correspondingly in the capital markets. Thank you very much for your attention.
Thank you, Dr. Kraus. I have four more requests to speak. The next one is Mr. Kenneth Benning. Please. You're on mute.
Can you hear me now? Hello? Is that better?
Yes. Good.
Thank you. Chairman, I'd like to address La Prairie's performance, strategic positioning, and scientific positioning. Over the last three years, La Prairie has experienced a consistent decline in sales from over EUR 650 million to materially lower levels, including just recently around 14%-15% in the last quarter alone. The explanations provided, China, travel retail, U.S. department store disruption, suggests that this is treated largely as external. My question is, first of all, does the board genuinely believe this decline is primarily external, or does it recognize a more structural issue with the product value and positioning? Because a three-year decline is no longer temporary. It points to something more fundamental. At the same time, La Prairie positions itself as a science-led luxury brand and has highlighted Caviar Micronutrients as a significant innovation since 2023.
As a shareholder and someone working directly in Caviar biotechnology, I would say that the underlying science, including proteomics, peptide mapping, and lipid-based analysis, is now advancing rapidly and is increasingly well understood across the industry. My question, my second question, is what is the precise scientific definition of Caviar Micronutrients, and how is that definition sufficiently clear and meaningful to justify such a premium pricing to an increasingly informed consumer base? Because if that definition is not clear, then the pricing power of the brand becomes vulnerable.
From a strategic perspective, there also have been clear opportunities in recent years for La Prairie to align more directly with scientific developments and take a leading position, not just in branding, but in science and related intellectual property frameworks. My third question today to the board: Does the board accept that La Prairie may have missed an opportunity and now is in a position of responding to market rather than leading it? Finally, on ingredient oversight and risk management, there is now growing scientific scrutiny, including material entering the public domain, on how Caviar extract is defined when analyzed using modern proteomics and lipid-based technologies. Given that Caviar extract is the core ingredient underpinning the Skin Caviar range and is central to the element of La Prairie's brand identity, any uncertainty or challenge to its scientific characterization would extend beyond a technical discussion.
My final question to the board: Is the board satisfied that it fully understands and can stand behind the scientific composition and description of its key ingredients across all markets, and has it assessed any potential regulatory, safety, or labeling implications if that characterization were to be questioned? To summarize, the questions to the board are, first, whether the ongoing decline of La Prairie's performance is truly external or reflects a deeper structural issue in the product value and positioning. Second, whether the scientific narrative, particularly Caviar Micronutrients, is it sufficiently clear, defined, and credible to support premium pricing? Third, whether the company has fully capitalized on recent scientific and strategic opportunities and is now in a position of catching up rather than leading.
Finally, whether the board is confident in its understanding and the oversight of the core ingredient behind the brand and any associated global regulatory, safety, or labeling risks. Thank you very much.
Thank you very much. Mr. Gaebler is next. Mr. Gaebler, the floor is yours.
Mr. Gaebler, are you on? Are you there?
Hello, Mr. Pöllath. Thank you very much for handing me the floor. I have to agree with Mr. Kraus. It's a technical problem because when you're in the virtual waiting room, you could not hear Mr. Neumann. Me neither. It was not possible. Even now, the previous speaker, if you were in the waiting room, you could only hear English, and I'm not having that in English during a German AGM. You have to make sure that this works as is due. Mr. Pöllath, it is absolutely usual to call up the following two speakers so that you can adjust to that. It is really difficult if you are in the virtual waiting room. You have to have your camera and audio switched on. Sometimes you might have to wait for an hour, and I'm asking for some more respect for the different shareholders.
That shouldn't be the fact. Let's come to Beiersdorf. The dividend of EUR 1 is fine, but with the share price at a 10-year low, this has literally gone completely off the rails. What is the board doing now to get the share price back from the hard shoulder onto the fast lane? Is the share price supposed to stay stuck where it is, just like with Thyssen? Is it definitely a buying opportunity at the moment, or could it go even lower? Please don't tell me that the executive board should not make a recommendation. It cannot make a recommendation. It shouldn't, maybe. Mr. Neumann said it as well, flat growth. You are drifting towards a politician's narrative. It's just a bit of nonsense.
Please give us the full truth and the question that comes up at a share price at 10-year low, why aren't the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board buying up massively at this price at the moment? I haven't seen any reports. Aren't they not convinced? That would be a good statement if all of you or many of you said, "I have invested a larger quantity into the share." You could say that if you are convinced that it is worth more than EUR 0.75. Oh, that's EUR 75, sorry. I have invested hoping for great news so that the share price will react in the markets. But for now, it doesn't look as if that's going to happen. Now that we're at a 10-year low and shareholders suffer, of course, will the board members' salaries also fall to a 10-year low?
They would actually have to go along, but usually they do not, unfortunately. How about a voluntary waiver if you say, "Okay, we will renounce on 10%-20% of at least the variable remuneration so that you experience the same suffering that we do as shareholders." Much for that. Let's move away from the share price and the remuneration. I want to look into the products of the group. First of all, shelf life of adhesive tape. I would like to know how long can it be stored without any issue, and how long does it last once it has been used? Do you regularly carry out internal quality checks on tapes that may have been stored for 10 years, 20 years or 30 years? I'm going to mention something.
I have this tesa packaging tape, and I was annoyed because when rolling it out, it got cut at the center and you had to fumble around. I wanted to throw it away, but I didn't. Really, I have more expectations to a branded product. I have to say, I tried to find out for how long I've been having it, and I actually noted it. It was 10 years old. Well, obviously you don't use that much in a private setting, so I would like to know if it has come to the end of its shelf life. For a second product that is a very current phase. You have a wonderful product, tesa MOON, that is all sorts of things that you use in your bathroom that you can stick. Oh, "tesa nie wieder Bohren." It's something that you stick on the tile.
You don't need to drill anymore. It's made of stainless steel. It has a super long lifespan, but the adhesive element of it has a problem. I wanted to put it on the wall, but I couldn't because the adhesive had dried up. I look at the packaging and it says, you can use it or best used by the 1st of December 2026. Then I wonder what has gone wrong here. I don't want to bother you with my personal problems. This is about something else. Obviously, it could be storing problems. I don't know at the DIY store how they store it. What I do not understand is, this product needs to be labeled on the outside, so you know how old it is.
Because when I take it out of the shelf at the DIY store, I don't know for how long it has been there. I don't know what at all. I might have paid EUR 15 for a product, and I don't know if it's still okay, and I have no way to verify whether the adhesive in it can still be used. I would make a suggestion, put a label on it on the outside so that also DIY staff can know when it's best to use by, and that they can exchange it or offer consumers a new adhesive so that it works. Because otherwise it is a wonderful product, fantastic product. Much as a side note. Maybe after you sent again parcels out with products, maybe you could put one of those in and my problem would be solved.
A third product, the deodorant that I use also from you. I have a remark as compared to other deodorants of other brands. There's a lot of pressure on it. Do you test that regularly also in comparison to other products? I feel that this pressure is too strong. Now, that can be a personal preference, obviously, but to what extent do you make regular checks of that? Now more generally, to what extent do you anticipate a significant decline in consumer spending or a shift from branded products to no-name products due to sharply rising prices? Do you feel those effects, and to what extent has this been factored into the current corporate planning?
During the executive board presentation, you've addressed that a little bit, but I want to know this in a more detailed way. Which product areas have performed significantly worse or better than anticipated in the corporate planning during the reporting year? What would be important here is how significant were the deviations from plan. Could you explain that? What are you doing in order to change that? For the cosmetic series, I heard a weird Anglicism again, Sussex or something. Could you explain that? I don't know that. It's an Anglicism sachet, I think. I understood that it is a small packaging or like a sample packaging. Could you explain that some more? Current trends. What about digitization and AI at Beiersdorf? What's the current state there, and where does the company aim to be in three years time? How will this change Beiersdorf?
What investment volume will be required for this, and what results will it yield? This takes us to the next point, staffing. How will the staffing requirement develop over the next five years? How many employees have been hired in Germany in 2025? How safe are the jobs in Germany? How secure are they? Will digitization and AI lead to a reduction here? Here you should also make a statement in order to build trust among your employees who are committed to your company throughout the year. Let me move towards Berlin. What do you expect from politicians or from the German government? Do you expect anything from them at all? How can business planning be done reasonably if the political framework conditions, whether in Germany, Europe or globally, are completely unclear? I imagine that this is very difficult for the Executive Board.
What impact do you expect from the U.S. political clown regarding the tariffs or other obstacles that you are certainly also impacted by? If you could explain that. To complete on AI, are questions still recorded by stenographers or already by AI, as was the case, for example, at the Metro AGM for the first time? This will lead to a problem. If an AI records my voice, there are questions regarding data protection and Mr. Pöllath, you said shareholders may not record parts of the AGM, but if you seize my voice by AI, then I would normally have to have the right to also record. There is a discrepancy here. I don't want to take too much time. We see that the virtual AGM has its benefits, but it also has inconveniences, in particular of a technological kind.
It's not very personal, no question, but at least you gave a clear statement. Next year probably will be virtual again, and then we will meet in person. Let me also ask for a more specific forecast. I don't like this notion of flat growth that would be like in the per mil area. That makes me think of alcohol more than anything else. I would like to have a more specific forecast, so that I understand where we're heading in this financial year. Give us a percentage or specific numbers or values when it comes to your business planning. Here we come back. It loops back to the beginning. Will we be able to steer the share price in the right direction again? Because we should try to move away pretty quickly from the 10-year low.
Where do you see currently the three biggest problems and what were the three most unpleasant events in the reporting year? Ladies and gentlemen, fellow shareholders, I do not want to test your patience any longer. I would like to thank you for your attention, and I would like to thank all employees for this good result. They achieved this for us. I say goodbye from the south of our republic and I hand back the floor.
Thank you, Mr. Gaebler. Your criticism was justified. In fact, I had forgotten to warn you. Actually, the next speaker is Mr. Giebel, and after that I have another speaker on my list, but there might still be things to clarify. However, Mr. Giebel, for now you are the next speaker.
Chair, ladies and gentlemen. I would first of all like to point out that in the waiting room for six minutes, I couldn't hear what Mr. Neumann was saying, and for that reason, I would like to ask you to actually repeat these six minutes in the form of a recording or to transcribe the questions and then present them after they have been transcribed. I think it is important to understand the statements of other shareholders to make an informed decision here.
If not, yeah, I would like to take down my protest in the minutes with the notary if this should not happen. Now, getting to the share price. You said that the share price is not exactly positive, but however, to just present the figures once more. A year ago, the share stood at EUR 127.45, and now it is slightly over EUR 70, and in February it still stood at EUR 110. Now, of course, the stock market is under pressure at the moment, but competitors globally and nationally have not had the same decline. Now, what you said about the share price from my perspective is not enough to explain this decline, and for this reason, I would like to ask you, please tell us why do you think the share price has dropped so strongly?
If you say that you have already launched countermeasures, which Mrs. Loebsack specifically talked about, then my question is why has the market not rewarded these measures? Why do we not see the impact? Are you the only ones who believe in these measures? Why does the market not believe in them? Because if it did, something would have happened. Let me follow up on the statement of Mr. Warnery with regard to the share buyback. He said, "We are dealing with our capital in a responsible way." I have to say, no, you are not. In fact, you do not have anything better to do with our capital than giving it back, meaning you lack ideas. You believe that all shareholders, all investors in the stock market or wherever, can make more money than you. Can have higher returns with the money than you.
My question is, what are you doing with the money? A buyback drives the share price up and can be advantageous in that way, but ultimately it just means that you have no better ideas about what to do with the capital rather than buying back shares. For that reason, I would like to know how, from a financial and economic perspective, you analyze or interpret this buyback, and what are the arguments in favor of this buyback other than a lack of good ideas for investments? Now let me move on to the presentation of Mrs. Loebsack. What I noticed was that Mrs. Loebsack was only talking about deodorants. Now, when I look at the products that you also distribute to shareholders, then we always talk about antiperspirant. There is a deo, there is a deodorant, and an antiperspirant.
Now, why do you talk about deodorants or deos when you mean antiperspirant products? What is the difference here between these three products? How are they distributed? What are the market shares? What brands do you have? With regard to the content, I would like to understand how you deal with the ingredient aluminum. Do you still have deodorants or antiperspirant products with aluminum? Another question that I have is alcohol. What is the alcohol content of these deodorants and antiperspirants, and how do you evaluate it from a medical perspective, and where are you going to head in the future? Now, I was happy to see this anti-pigmentation product. I can't actually remember the name of it now, but I was happy to hear it mentioned because I'm in China, and people here, especially young people, students, young people, young women, wear masks throughout the day.
Similar to corona mask, but they actually cover the entire face. Not because they have a rash or because they are ill, but because they want a very clear complexion. That is a trend in the whole of Asia. Women want a clear or pale complexion. My question is, this anti-pigmentation effect, does it also help in the clearing of the complexion in young people? What is your turnover with these anti-pigmentation products? With the one that you mentioned, what's your turnover in China, and what is your planned turnover? Mrs. Loebsack, you said that you actually invest or have invested very heavily in advertisements. Now, in China, I've not seen any advertisements for your products, even though NIVEA is actually very prominent in all of the supermarkets and department stores here in China, in almost every department store. Where do you place your advertisements in China?
There must be platforms for advertisements. How do you do this? Do you use influencer marketing, which is very strong here in China? You are responsible for the Chinese market. What do you do here specifically to market this excellent product in this region more strongly? Maybe I also simply overlooked your advertising efforts. Please tell me, how much in the last financial year and in the first quarter of this year was spent for this advertising of the anti-pigmentation product in China? Now, my next point is the high-tech plaster. Let me call it that. I actually couldn't remember the name here either, and my internet connection is also not the best. What are your plans in this segment? You said that you were carrying out research, and there was already a question whether Hansaplast couldn't go a step further on this path.
A while back, I saw a plaster with one of your competitors that cost EUR 20 each, and it has to be swapped or exchanged every day. Just imagine the turnover you can have here. It was a real high-tech plaster because the liquid that comes out of a wound was channeled into a tether structure and then kept away from the skin without extracting it or leading it all the way to the outside. My question is, what's your planning with these high-tech plasters? Are you intending to go into that segment, or are you staying in the EUR 4-EUR 5 segment for 20 plasters? With regard to tesa, my question is as follows: Are you dealing in the automotive business? What's your turnover in that industry with adhesives?
Because at the moment in the automotive industry, welded constructions are heavily replaced by bonded constructions, and bonded constructions or assemblies can be molded better, and they can also provide better shock protection compared to welded solutions. Are you working in the automotive business? Do you see opportunities here, and are you carrying out any research there? I just have to go through my points. Yes, next point and last point, in fact. I would like to follow up on what Mr. Gaebler already said with regard to the transcript. I would like to make the question even more precise. What system do you use for the transcript? Who is the service provider of these systems? Where are they hosted? Are they hosted on servers in Germany, in Europe, or possibly in the U.S.?
My last question in the same regard, can you exclude the possibility that the statements made by shareholders are going to be used to train these learning systems? If so, how do you exclude that? Do you have any contractual arrangements with the corresponding service providers, or do you simply give all of the statements of the shareholders into a cloud? Because as a shareholder, one has to know that the AI systems and actually practically all transcription systems are AI systems. All of these are hosted in clouds, and anything that is ever said can be used for training purposes. For machine learning, and here I believe that the shareholders of the Beiersdorf AG should not become toys used for AI training. Thank you very much.
Thank you, Mr. Gaebler. Thank you. There was one more shareholder who raised his hand, but then did not follow up on his request to take the floor. This means there are no further requests to take the floor right now, and we are starting with the answering.
Thank you, Mr. Pöllath. I am going to start with a few questions of Mr. Neumann. Question number three, and I will repeat the question. This is about the margin development in the luxury business for our NIVEA products. It's about a qualitative explanation of how it has evolved and the reasons for it. Here, I can report that the margin development for our luxury brands and for NIVEA, unfortunately, are not going in the right direction or have been in the last year.
All in all, we have a positive picture driven in particular by the development in our Derma business. When it comes to the luxury business and NIVEA, due to the challenging growth development, it has not panned out positive. The main reasons are the gross margin development. There's a lot of pressure from the exchange rates that were not favorable, and higher costs as well. For the luxury brands, we have a very high gross margin, but also higher costs, fixed costs. In a year that is so challenging, this weighs on the EBIT margin. It has gone further down for luxury brands. For NIVEA, it has declined more slightly. Another question comes from Mr. Neumann, number four, and this is about the turnover forecast, and that we explained it in a qualitative way, flat to slight growth. That's exactly how we expressed it.
Flat is organically slightly growing, but this expresses a range of around approximately 0%, no growth, to 2%. This is a usual statement, and the capital markets do understand. I'm going to hand on. There's a question of Mr. Neumann, thank you very much, about the healthcare business. Why are we not in the professional area? Those are three important ones, Elastoplast, Hansaplast, and CURITAS. We are historically only in this part of the business. There are many sales synergies with pharmacies like Derma, the mass market with NIVEA. The professional business is completely different with different channels, very high fixed costs. Indeed, we left this market 20 years ago, so we will focus on the consumer brands. Some questions by Mr. Kraus. One, on the acquisition strategy. We focus deliberately on skin care.
This is where we are good, where we have the necessary experience and the right talent, so that is our strategy. Skin care is our core business, and we have the expertise. There are brands that we will acquire. We've already acquired Coppertone and Chantecaille. Of course, we look at all possibilities, and we are confident that we should add to our portfolio. One question about the NIVEA risk, question number 13, what are the specific measures on the diversification of the portfolio? Are there? Well, we are adding to our portfolio with acquisitions. With these acquisitions, we want to strengthen our core business, and our core business is skin care. One question of Mr. Kraus, question number 14, about the share price development.
As we said, 2025, the world economy slowed down, and on top of that, we had geopolitical tensions and interest rate reductions that came later than expected and financial markets in turmoil. Our share performed worse than others. One of the main reasons was a globally weak skin care market, but that has recovered, and we've encountered problems with NIVEA and in the luxury business. Of course, it was embarrassing. Our guidance had to be adjusted, and that is never a good thing. We were not the only company that did that, but obviously this has led to a significant share price movement. We were happy with the Derma business. It helped us to compensate a little bit for that, but the adjustments obviously had quite an impact on our share price. We hope that over the next few months, with better figures and results.
We want to. It's what we're working on. We want that. We want to see the share price increase again. Now question 15: What concrete measures is the executive board planning to improve the capital market performance? Now we want to get onto a profitable growth path as soon as possible. The biggest measure is one that we've talked about much with Mrs. Loebsack, that is the rebalancing of NIVEA. Now we have first positive indications. We spoke about Deo in Europe, about Personal Care in emerging markets, Skin Care in emerging markets. All of these are positive. However, it is not yet reflected in our net figures because it's the sell-out. We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but the good news is that our Derma business continues to develop very positively, and we are seeing many positive signals coming from La Prairie.
We are expecting better results with our luxury brands starting this month.
Question number 7 from Mr. Neumann. The question is, What was the group e-commerce revenue for the reporting year? How was this revenue distributed across the Group's two business segments? What exactly is e-commerce revenue? How is e-commerce revenue distinguished from non-e-commerce revenue? Was e-commerce on its own profitable in both segments during the reporting year? Thank you for the question. We're very satisfied with the development of the e-commerce business. In the Consumer segment, e-commerce accounted for almost 17% in the reporting year. In the tesa segment, the share was slightly lower at approximately 2.2% for total net sales of tesa. As a definition of e-commerce, in accordance with our internal guidelines, e-commerce revenues comprise all revenues where the purchase decision is made online. As per the profitability, e-commerce is generally more profitable at the gross margin level.
However, it is a clear growth business driver, and as such, we actually make significant marketing investments, which partially offsets the higher gross margin. Profitability at the EBIT margin level has been improving over the last few years. Thank you.
I have a question by Mr. Neumann. The question was the letter of the CEO, Mr. Warnery, talks about NIVEA and talks about the challenging conditions in the mass market. What does that mean? Were you too expensive? Did you set the wrong priorities? Did you neglect personal care and deodorants, or were the conditions that meant the product didn't land as well with the consumers and that led to the turnover not developing as hoped? Please, could you characterize what the exact challenging conditions in the mass markets were? Thank you, Mr. Neumann, for this detailed question. Now, the reference to the challenging conditions in the mass market relates, on the one hand, to the slowdown in market growth. Market growth over the course of 2025 declined significantly. For instance, global volume growth in the mass market fell from 4% in 2024 to 0.5% in 2025.
In emerging markets, the slowdown is actually even more pronounced. On the other hand, 2025 was characterized by more fierce competition from independent local brands. Now, with regard to our priorities, and I think I also suggested that earlier on, we placed a strong focus on face care. Now, with our rebalancing that we are going to be carrying out, we are going to adjust that, adjusting our strategy, and we will be placing a stronger focus on personal care and deodorants. That includes antiperspirant products, but I'm going to answer that question later on. We will optimize the allocation of marketing investments and innovation resources on these core categories, and we will be basing ourselves consequently on the iconic core NIVEA products. I have a question by Mr. Kraus, whether the measures at NIVEA are not a little late, Mrs. Loebsack.
Should one not have foreseen that earlier? All of these measures that you so intensively pursue, should they not have been initiated earlier on? Thank you, Mr. Kraus, for this very direct question that is indeed justified. I can tell you that myself and the entire Executive Board have indeed looked at this very consciously. Now, what is important here are two things for us. First of all, we have continuously observed market and consumer trends at NIVEA, and we have continuously made adjustments. The development of the market, however, started to speed up and become more visible over the course of 2025. You may remember that actually the previous year, we had very good net sales.
In the second half of 2025, we had a targeted and structural readjustment of NIVEA that was launched, and the target was and is not only to address short-term symptoms, but to actually strengthen the brand in the long term. Now, these measures, such as the focus prioritization of face care, body care, and deodorants, as well as the new weighting or redistribution of innovation and marketing investments and clearly defined degrees of freedom for our most important markets will not take effect overnight. They are still important in order to make sure that NIVEA remains competitive and relevant. In short, yes, of course, there were individual developments that we could have foreseen earlier.
What's decisive now is that we take the right consequences with a strategic framework, that we're disciplined in the implementation, and that we aim to position NIVEA strongly in a structural way for the future. Another question by Mr. Kraus. NIVEA risk. Are there any scenario analyses for a possible weakness of the NIVEA brand? Thank you for the question, Mr. Kraus. Yes, there are analyses that also cover possible weakness of the brand, and these take care as part of the brand health tracking. We monitor the health of this brand in several countries. That is part of our regular planning and forecasting processes. We also have NIVEA growth model simulation. In this simulation, growth scenarios until 2030 are simulated and updated regularly.
Apart from this risk early detection, we have quantified impact scenario for significant NIVEA risks, for instance, in the areas of brand communication and brand reputation. Those were my questions.
Good morning. I have three questions by Mr. Neumann. Thank you very much for that, Mr. Neumann. I'm going to start with question number two. That's the market entry of La Prairie and Chantecaille in India. What turnover do we expect over the next three fiscal years? Like Mr. Warnery, you said it in the beginning of his presentation, it is definitely a very important growth market, not just for NIVEA and Eucerin, but also for our luxury brands, La Prairie and Chantecaille. We have started out very successfully in the Indian market, but you have to remember it's a relatively small luxury skincare market, EUR 170 million luxury turnover is what we have. We're not in a big position there, but we are building up for the future. That's definitely a strategic goal for the next decades, I would say.
We're very happy about the first results, but as I said, we're not talking about huge million EUR amounts. The next question is question number six. What is the turnover of Chantecaille in EUR in the reporting year and how does the executive board assess the development here? We are in an upper two-digit million EUR revenue at Chantecaille. We've had problems, but this was influenced by the external factors, that is the slump in the travel retail business and the entire luxury segment is suffering from that. Plan measures such as the launch of the brand in the strategically important Chinese market are going according to plan. We have many lessons learned from the Coppertone acquisition when integrating Chantecaille, and we are very satisfied with the progress there. The next question also comes from Mr. Neumann. It refers to the turnover of Coppertone since the acquisition.
The question is whether, in retrospect, we are happy with the success of the acquisition given the situation of the brand. Coppertone was a very strategic acquisition. We did that for two reasons. First of all, we wanted to build a critical mass in the strategically important U.S. market, and therefore also enter strategically in the sun market in U.S., and not just as a brand for Coppertone, but also to open up the path for the entry into Eucerin Sun and Eucerin face care. That is really very important for us. The figures of the turnover are in the three-digit million EUR amount. It is absolutely important to mention that given that we have critical R&D capacities that we also acquired in the U.S., we have a basis in order to lead the North America business to the future.
I am going to continue with question nine by Mr. Neumann. That is a longer question on our Venture Capital unit, Oscar & Paul. I'm just going to address this quickly. Who is responsible, what about staffing and financial resources? What the investments are, how they have developed over the year. Whether we also invest into funds or just into startups, and how many, what that represents. I'm going to go into the details. We're clearly in the venture capital area in order to drive future growth through scientifically grounded innovation. We have now launched a new fund, as was presented. We've announced that. A fund of EUR 100 million. Our first fund amounted to EUR 50 million. In the future, we will rename this fund to Beiersdorf Venture Capital to have a clearer link to us. There is cross-functional responsibility on the board.
I am responsible on the executive committee. That is the larger executive board circle. My colleague, Dr. Gitta Neufang, who is the head of our research, is on that committee as well. We have a dedicated team of four staffers, but also a very close cooperation with the bigger research team that is available for that work. We are invested in 13 startups and five venture capital funds. It is a positive development that we observe during the reporting year. We have the following additions and disposals, five new investments in the core areas of life sciences and sustainability, and one new venture capital fund where we are invested now, and there have been no divestments. The strategic alignment is very clear. We are focusing on cooperations that will help lead us forward in the areas of life science, sustainability, but also AI and digital health.
All in all, our strategy has been set up in such a way that we are investing 80% directly into startups and 20% in venture capital funds. Question 12 of Mr. Kraus. Here, he asked about the turnover share of NIVEA and how it has evolved in 2025. NIVEA's turnover share was 68%, going down by one percentage point as compared to the previous year, when it was 69%. On page 192 of our business report, you'll find more on that. Another question by Mr. Kraus, question 23. This is why part of the profits were put into reserves rather than to invest into acquisitions or growth. We invest quite a lot into growth. We have increased our investments into marketing, innovation, and digital.
We have worked on acquisitions, in particular in the area of skin care, and we are very active looking for other good partners that we might acquire. At the same time, we want to make sure that we have the necessary reserves to do that in order to react quickly, maybe even also in anti-cyclical, more difficult times. Another question, Mr. Kraus, question number 24 on the yield requirements or return requirements regarding investments and acquisitions. Obviously we have clear return requirements, depending on the risk and earning profile of the corresponding project. Obviously, we aim for returns well above our cost of capital. I have five questions by Mr. Kraus. Question 16: Why does Beiersdorf pursue a relatively cautious acquisition strategy? Is there a defined M&A pipeline or target segments for acquisitions?
Well, Mr. Kraus, M&A is important for us in order to expand our portfolio and to grow in the long term. We continuously review possible acquisitions, in particular in the area of skin care. We only acquire companies that fit our strategy well and have an appropriate price. Obviously, we also have a pipeline that we work on continuously, but it also depends on whether a good fit of a company is available, and the market for such acquisitions was rather subdued recently. Question 18 by Mr. Kraus: How does the Executive Board assess the risk to miss out on opportunities in the competition? We continuously invest in growth, in particular in innovation, marketing, and digitization. We increase investments in Derma and to strengthen NIVEA by investing in body, deo, and face care.
We keep expanding e-commerce and invest in a targeted way in the U.S., in China and in India. Derma demonstrates the success of our strategy. Since 2015, the business has tripled. The Skincare Innovation Fund, on top of that, allows for early investments into new technologies like as S-Biomedic. Question number 20 by Mr. Kraus: Why should the capital market believe that over the next three years, more value will be created than during the last three years? Mr. Kraus, since 2021, the turnover has increased by around 30% and EBIT by around 40%. In the future as well, we remain committed to profitable growth. Our brands are set to gain further market share through innovations and the development of white spaces. For NIVEA, we expect better growth opportunities through rebalancing. Dividends and share buybacks are intended to continue to secure attractive returns for shareholders.
Question number 21 by Mr. Kraus, the NIVEA risk. Do you bet on special brands more in order to minimize the NIVEA risk? Talking about the new president for Derma and Healthcare, what are the plans? Mr. Kraus, NIVEA will remain our central growth motor. At the same time, we are scaling up the portfolio in a clearly structured and global manner. Derma and Healthcare are being expanded in a targeted manner. Eucerin is being scaled up internationally with a sharpened strategy. Aquaphor is supposed to be developed as a global brand, and Healthcare is being developed into a larger and faster-growing platform. La Prairie and Chantecaille are clearly focused on growth. Despite the challenges in the luxury market, in particular in travel retail, we are confident and trust our brand strategy. Last question by Mr. Kraus, question 22: What target distribution rate does Beiersdorf pursue in the long run?
Mr. Kraus, we pursue a responsible dividend policy. Albeit without a fixed payout ratio, we aim to offer our shareholders an appropriate return while investing in sustainable growth. In 2024, the dividend was increased for the first time in over 15 years to EUR 1 per share and we are keeping it stable. In addition, we are carrying out substantial share buybacks, which should benefit all shareholders.
Hello from me too. I would like to respond to the questions that you, Mr. Gaebler, asked. Question 46: How will the staffing needs develop at Beiersdorf in the next five years, and how many employees in 2025 were employed for the first time in Germany, and how safe are the jobs in Germany? Are any reductions planned in the future? Let me go through these questions one by one. What are going to be the staffing needs in the next five years? We plan our staffing according to our financial planning with a clear 18-month planning horizon, and it is obviously constantly monitored and also adjusted. Now, for the next five years, we do not work with fixed personnel numbers or linear headcount targets. Our experience has shown that the market technology and competence requirements change too fast for that. Now, given the economic environment, cost effectiveness remains essential.
We manage Beiersdorf with a very conscious approach regarding the use of cost and resources. In terms of substance, we don't expect across the board increases or reductions, but rather further development of tasks, roles, and skills profiles, particularly via digitalization, AI-driven productivity gains, and demographic effects. Now, since last year, we have been consistently managing recruitment and replacements to active vacancy management, and we carefully assess each replacement in terms of its business relevance. External recruitment is the exception, and it requires the approval of the executive board. The next question, how many new employees were actually recruited in Germany in 2025? In the 2025 reporting year, we recruited across all our sites in Germany, a total of 311 new employees. How secure are the jobs in Germany? Also with regard to AI.
Germany is a strategic and key location for Beiersdorf, not only today, but also in the long term. This is not only evident from a historical perspective, but also when you look at our targeted investments. For instance, in the campus, our new headquarters in Hamburg, in our modern working facilities and in the expansion of our production capacities, most recently at our site in Leipzig. These investments demonstrate our clear commitment to Germany as a business location, and they form an important foundation for employment and value creation, locally. Our focus is clearly on long-term competitiveness, and like any other responsible business we operate with diligence and clear guidelines. We monitor market developments very closely, of course, and we began managing our personnel and operating costs at a very early stage. Beiersdorf is currently not pursuing or planning any global or widespread staff reduction programs.
Our aim is to ensure economic stability, to prepare the workforce for the future and at the same time to ensure the long-term competitiveness of the company. Now, with regard to digitalization, we believe that automation and AI are strategic levers in order to increase productivity and in order to support employees in their work. Accordingly, we invest in qualification and further development of skills and in internal mobility. In doing so, we want to ensure that employees can actively use new technologies. In parallel, we also build digital and digital platforms in order to facilitate processes and make our work more efficient. Now, the use of AI is strongly regulated and done in a responsible way at Beiersdorf, and it's also always done in accordance with our works council. Thank you.
Let me respond to a question by Mr. Kraus, question number 17.
It's about the NIVEA risk. How can you ensure that NIVEA remains competitive in the long run, and how can you win over a younger customer base for NIVEA as a brand? Now, with regard to the competitiveness, we want to ensure its long-term competitiveness by being adaptable and anticipate changing framework conditions. We show this, for instance, with the rebalancing of NIVEA that we spoke about several times today, meaning targeted focusing on body, deodorant and face care. We optimize the allocation of marketing investments and innovation resources as much as we can. There's also a clear focus on the accessibility and affordability. We ensure that NIVEA, also in the face care segment, offers a broader and affordable offer and that in that sense, it remains available to many consumers in all markets.
We also see that giving more leeway to key markets as an important framework in order to remain competitive. Defining the leeway for local markets increases local relevance and also the speed of implementation without relinquishing control of global brand management. Now talking to a younger customer base, what can I say here? Most of the products at NIVEA are actually also targeted at younger customer bases. We also ensure that we remain attractive to younger customers, and we do so by highlighting iconic values such as trust and continuity, and combining them with topical or relevant aspects. We do that mainly through digital activities in order to reach younger consumers. We work a lot with influencers here, and we have campaigns that we run, and this is a part of our strategy. High availability and affordability is of course an important building block also for younger consumers.
I think the examples that I showed you, such as Glow in Thailand and NIVEA Soft, these are one of the products that are very popular and very successful with the younger consumer groups. Much for that question. Let me move on to a question by Mr. Gaebler, question 34. Mr. Gaebler noticed that the deodorant at Beiersdorf, compared to other deodorants, there is more pressure. The question was whether this is regularly tested and compared to others. Now, I can tell you that the pressure used in deodorants at Beiersdorf complies with the typical industry standards in the aerosol area and in the product development. This is continuously reviewed with appropriate and validated methods in order to avoid any erroneous deviations. I would also like to suggest that you try a roll-on, which is actually very good here. Yeah.
I would like to respond to two questions that Mr. Giebel asked with regard to the way we record questions. On the one hand, whether we use shorthand writers and on the other hand, whether we use AI, and in case we do use AI, the question was about data protection. Now, I can confirm that just as in previous years, the recording of question is done by stenographers. This also means that the question about AI and its use is irrelevant here. Now, question 47 and 40. Now for question 32 by Mr. Giebel. This was about the adhesive tapes by tesa, and the question was for how long they can normally be used and what kind of quality controls are carried out. Now, the tesa products and tapes are designed in such a way that when stored correctly they work reliably in the long run.
As a guideline, depending on the product we're talking about, the shelf life is approximately 2 years-3 years, and the actual performance actually depends on the storage and usage conditions such as temperature, humidity, UV exposure. All of these factors play a significant role. Under optimal conditions, a product can actually also be used beyond that timeframe, and tesa recommends a cool, dry place away from direct light. Mr. Gaebler, question 37. You had another question relating specifically to tesa, to the hooks, the adhesive hooks that can be used for towels in the bathroom, and here our products comply with all regulatory provisions. There is a labeling with a product date that can maybe lead to the.
We do not have a labeling because it could mean that products are discarded when this is not necessary, but we are going to evaluate and examine the question that he raised in detail. Now, question 36 by Mr. Gaebler. This was about different product areas. Well, the question about the product segments that develop more positively or more negatively and what the deviation was. Here I can tell you that the strongest deviations were with NIVEA Deo. We're talking about EUR 143 million here as a reduction in turnover, and also with NIVEA face care here we saw -EUR 80 million in terms of the turnover reduction.
Now the larger positive deviations were with Eucerin body and as in with our body care products at Eucerin, with a plus of EUR 27 million and also in the wound care segment, the products by Hansaplast and Elastoplast with a plus of EUR 9 million here. Now moving on, Mr. Gaebler also raised a question about AI, question number 38, and this was a question about how AI is used at Beiersdorf and where we want to be in the next three years. The question also was how that might change Beiersdorf and what kind of investment volumes we see necessary here. It was a rather large question, long question, and that I could actually take a very long time responding to, but I'm going to keep it short. This topic can of course be discussed in detail.
Digitalization and AI are already an integral part of Beiersdorf's strategy. In fact, you can also see it in the one-pager about our strategy. We use AI across the value creation chain, not only in our IT area, but actually in all functions. The goal here is of course to further scale the use, in the coming years in specific areas such as research, but also in other areas, end-to-end automation. Of course we do that, as my colleague also said briefly, with clear governance and compliance frameworks, and we use AI in a responsible way. Now, what we hope for, the impact on Beiersdorf is of course faster and data-driven decision-making process and shorter development times. We hope for greater efficiency, quality, and resilience, but we also hope that it will strengthen our innovative capacity and in that same vein, our competitiveness.
The investment volumes vary, but you can see that our digitalization investments since 2021 have been way above the previous year levels. As I said, it is clearly an important component of our corporate strategy. Let me just repeat it. The expected results are a faster implementation and innovation and decision-making processes and sustainable efficiency and quality gain. A question by Mr. Giebel. Question 30, the dividend of EUR 1 is fine, but when it comes to a share price at a 10-year low, it has gone completely off track. What is the Executive Board doing in order to get back from the hard shoulder to the fast lane? Well, Mr. Giebel, it is our aim to bring Beiersdorf back to the growth paths as quickly as possible. The most important measure in this is the successful implementation of the NIVEA rebalancing.
First indications here are positive, which has become visible in the Q1 sellout figures, but there's still a long way to go. We remain confident that the strong growth in the derma segment will continue and are optimistic about La Prairie and Chantecaille. In addition, we are also addressing the issue of capital allocation, which includes potential acquisitions, but are also distributions to our shareholders. Question 31 by Mr. Giebel. Why do executive board and supervisory board members not buy massively at this share price? Mr. Giebel, as a matter of principle, we do not comment on share acquisitions by individual executive board or supervisory board members, but these transactions are published on our website when exceeding a volume of EUR 50,000 per year. Recently, on the 6th of March, there have been two so-called directors' dealings.
Now, to what extent do you expect to see a clear cautiousness or reserve of customers when it comes to buying or switching from branded to a no-name product? Mr. Giebel, many customers pay more attention to the price. We see that particularly in mature markets. Promotions and special offers play a major role there. NIVEA remains an affordable skincare brand. We are constantly adapting the NIVEA strategy. This is our response to the current market situation. We focus more on the key product areas and try to boost the demand, particularly in the affordable skin care segment. Question 50 by Mr. Giebel. What do you expect from the political realm? What do you expect from the federal government? Do you expect anything at all from them? Mr. Giebel, we expect more than anything, reliable and clear framework conditions. Companies need plannability in order to be able to invest.
We are aware that the political situation is very volatile, is currently very complex, and complete clarity is therefore hardly possible. However, business planning has always been associated with uncertainty. What is crucial is that rules are transparent and are not constantly being changed. Consistent policy and an open dialogue help companies to make well-informed decisions, even in uncertain environment. Question 51 by Mr. Giebel. Will we get the share price back in the right direction? It is our ambition to bring Beiersdorf back as quickly as possible to a sustainable and profitable growth path. The decisive lever is a consistent and successful implementation of the NIVEA rebalancing. We already see positive signals, among others, in the sellout figures of the first quarter. However, we are aware that there is still work that needs to be done.
We remain confident that the strong growth in the derma segment will continue and are optimistic about La Prairie and Chantecaille. In addition, in parallel, we are addressing the issue of capital allocation, which includes potential acquisitions as well as distributions to our shareholders. The last question that I have from Mr. Giebel is question 52. Where does the Executive Board see the three biggest problems, and what were the three most disagreeable events in the reporting year? Well, the three biggest and most unpleasant problems, a weaker global mass market. NIVEA's growth slowed in 2025 because the market as a whole was challenging. Second point, uncertain markets and political tensions. There was great uncertainty due to conflicts, new trade barriers, and changing consumer behavior. Third point, we need to speed up our innovation process.
New ideas and digital projects should be rolled out more quickly and consistently across all brands and countries. That is our strategy, Win with Care.
Right. Now, I have a question by Mr. Gaebler, question 43. It's about understanding the notion of sachet. It's not even English, it's French. So this is simply a small product size, which is marketed in small plastic packs, 7 milliliters instead of 30 milliliters. These smaller sizes are usually in the markets of India or Thailand, in Asian markets, where the income is lower and therefore, this is an innovative product that we have there. I apologize for the non-German designation. Questions 57 and 58 by Mr. Gaebler. How about aluminum? Do you still have deodorants or antiperspirants that contain aluminum? You are absolutely correct.
There is a difference between deodorants and antiperspirants, and we use aluminum within the allowed concentrations by the law. In independent studies, we could show that the use of aluminum-containing product does not constitute any risk. This study has led to the fact that the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment has taken back the restriction of use for aluminum-containing products. A question on alcohol. What is the content of alcohol of these deodorants and antiperspirants? How do you assess it from a medical point of view? Where are you heading? In our deodorants, we use alcohol in the usual volumes in the market or the usual amounts. The use of alcohol is considered as medically completely without risk. Furthermore, we do skin tolerance studies in order to guarantee good tolerability, and we will continue to use alcohol in our products.
I will continue with the question 48.
Question 49 by Mr. Gaebler, the turnover forecast. We're talking about 0%-2% growth here. Question 54 by Mr. Gaebler, this is about the impact of U.S. policies on tariffs and other obstacles. With regard to tariffs, in very general terms, the U.S. are of course an important growth market, and in the past years, the U.S. market has developed positively. We have strong brands there. Now, so far, the tariffs have had a limited impact on our business. We produce a not insignificant amount of turnover in the U.S. and in Mexico. In Mexico, our production, at least for the time being, has not been impacted because under the USMCA agreement with Mexico and Canada, as we're producing under this agreement. For that reason, we had relatively low impact from the tariff so far.
With regard to the other obstacles, I think you're talking about the Middle East crisis here, possibly. Here I can tell you that our net sales, impact on net sales has been relatively limited due to the fact that the Middle East in itself, 3% of our group turnover and 100% of the turnover is actually supplied by other regions. From this viewpoint, we do not have any local production and no restrictions in this regard. However, what we do see is a certain influence created by the conditions on site or local conditions. Certain straits, as you know, are closed. The flow of goods cannot happen as it did before. We already have found some alternatives, and that is good.
Nonetheless, we can already see directly, not only there, but in also other parts of the world, an increase in logistics costs due to the higher oil prices. Of course, we are also closely monitoring the market impact on our input costs. We are also monitoring possible problems in the delivery of, or the supply of raw materials. Here we want to ensure, of course, that we continue to keep up our global production. We hope, of course, that there will be a speedy solution to this. Now then, let me respond to question 56 by Mr. Gaebler. This was about the share buyback program and what are the arguments for us doing a share buyback. Now, on the one hand, share buyback is positively viewed on the capital market.
It's a way of creating value for shareholders, and also a way of signaling that we believe in the long-term strength of our business. Apart from that, share buyback or reduced share buyback, it reduces the number of shares, and in that sense, it increases the return per share for each shareholder. Now, of course, we ensure that we do these buyback programs at a point in time at which we believe that the value of the company on the stock market is too low, and this is something that we currently believe to be the case. Mr. Gaebler had question number 63.
This was a question with regard to the tesa segment and the automotive area, and he was asking whether tesa is represented in the automotive business, what's happening there, and he also said that in the automotive sector, there is a tendency to move away from welding and more towards bonding or adhesive connections. I can say that tesa is very well represented here. tesa has high-tech adhesive solutions that were developed for the automotive sector in the last couple of years. With these solutions, tesa generates more than EUR 241 million in sales and in turnover. This area has developed very positively despite a very difficult automotive industry in the last years. tesa is winning over more projects here. It has been doing so in the past year and could maintain stability in the automotive business. Question 64 by Mr. Giebel.
This question was about the systems that are specifically used for the transcription, what service providers are being used, and where the hosting takes place, be that Germany, Europe, or the U.S. The question was also whether it can be excluded that the statements made by shareholders are used for the training of AI systems. Now, what I can tell you in response is that here we use a system provided by the company Giebel. It's called Solaria One. The hosting is in France. Yes, we have confirmed this with the service provider. We only use it for the transcripts of the questions here. It is not used to train any systems. I can tell you, no, it also does not get sent into a cloud. Two questions by Mr. Giebel. Question 55, with regard to the share price.
A year ago, the share price stood at EUR 127. Now it stands at just above EUR 70. You have not explained the decline sufficiently. Please explain to us why you believe this price has dropped so much. If you say that you have taken countermeasures, why did the market not reward these measures? Now the decline in the share price is due to the difficult market environment in 2025, as well as temporary and operative challenges at NIVEA and in the luxury business. The measures that were introduced, specifically the rebalancing for NIVEA, address the central operative topics, and they also target at sustainable growth and improved profitability. Normally, the market only reacts once progress has become visible across several quarters.
We are convinced that the consistent implementation of these measures, in combination with our focused skincare strategy, will also be positively reflected in the share price in the future. A question about plasters, Mr. Giebel. A high-tech plaster is something that Mr. Giebel saw with one of the competitors, 20 EUR per item that leads the wound fluids through a grid structure and keeps it away from the skin without letting it leak to the outside. What's your planning in high-tech plasters? Are you going to enter this area, or are you going to stay in the EUE 4-5 EUR area range for 20 items? Mr. Giebel, our focus is on the treatment of everyday wounds with a focus on affordable price points. New technologies in the area of plasters are continuously reviewed, and that is something we did with the Second Skin Protection Plaster.
This is an example for successful use of high-technology plasters, a hydrocolloid, in the consumer business. Now, technologically advanced plasters for the treatment of different wounds are already present in the higher price segments. In the consumer business, a balance between price and technology is important in order to ensure global scalability. The market segment for plasters that cost around EUR 20 is very small. Our target is to use technologies at a large scale and in a profitable way.
Once again, a few questions that have been brought up by Mr. Benning. Let me start with question 39. What is the scientific definition of Caviar Micronutrients? Is this definition clear enough and meaningful enough in order to justify the high price point? The Caviar Micronutrients are a particularly rich source of more than 300 different nutrients that stimulate metabolic processes in the skin in order to revitalize skin cells and to nourish them in order to optimize regeneration activities. The premium price of our La Prairie Skin Caviar products are justified by the efficacy of the ingredients, the sensory quality of our formulations, and the quality of our ingredients. Furthermore, we have an extraordinary service level within the selective sales network and therefore we are very much at ease. Question 44, Mr. Benning as well.
If Caviar extract is the main ingredient for skincare and is essential for the brand identity, then the challenge must go beyond the technical discussion. Is the executive board satisfied that they sufficiently understand and stand by the scientific opposition and description of the main ingredient? Are there potential regulatory or safety indications that this characterization should be questioned? I'm not going to go into the details of this particular Caviar ingredient. I have explained that, but it is an important ingredient within the products of La Prairie, but it's by far not the only one. One of the proprietary and very central ingredients contained in all products is the Exclusive Cellular Complex. Therefore, we go way beyond Caviar. As of now, no specific regulatory risks are known to us in combination with the labeling of our products.
As for all products of the group, we follow the labeling of our products through the INCI nomenclature. Next question also by Mr. Benning. How about the core ingredient of the brand other regulatory risk? I have already addressed that when answering the previous two questions. Over the last few years, there was opportunities for La Prairie to align itself more with the scientific developments and not just reacting in the sense of brand positioning. Well, over the last three years, the profile of luxury cosmetic consumers has clearly changed. Consumers are much better informed, primarily via the internet, but also in the context of discussions with our sales representatives. Therefore, luxury buyers have become much more demanding over the last years.
La Prairie adjusts and adapts continuously to the changing market needs and offers extraordinary innovative products with advanced formulations, while pushing ahead with the further development of the sales dynamics. A core team at La Prairie follows continuously scientific experts and is aligned with the new developments in the scientific landscapes. We take part in conferences and congresses in order to remain at the cutting edge of skin research. Our teams are positioned in such a way that they can react in an agile way to consumer demands. In parallel, we invest in long-term partnerships and universities and research institutions. Are we convinced that the development of the top line is primarily a reaction to external factors? The answer is yes.
The premium skincare market stood at -2% in 2025, and this is mainly driven by the fact that the travel retail market in Asia, with -13%, was negative, and that there were challenges in the U.S. department store business with -5%. La Prairie, and maybe this is also an important remark, could gain some market shares in 2025. Those are all the questions by Mr. Benning. Thank you very much.
I have a question of Mr. Giebel. Question 60. In my presentation, I only spoke about deodorants. Among the products that you gracefully hand out to shareholders, there's always mention of antiperspirants. There are big differences. Do you have two product lines here? Well, clearly we consider the product group as a whole under the generic headline deodorants, but you are right, Mr. Giebel. You have to distinguish between deodorants and antiperspirants. Antiperspirants contain aluminum.
They act against the formation of perspiration, whereas deodorants only act against odors being developed, in part with and without alcohol, but they do not suppress sweating. Our consumers have different needs when it comes to deodorant protection. Some prefer antiperspirants, others aluminum-free deodorants. Certain aspects are at the base of this preference. In warm countries, very often antiperspirants are preferred as they reduce sweating and not just reduce odors. In Germany, however, aluminum-free deodorants represent 50% of the market. Some consumers feel that these aluminum salt-free deodorants are milder. We are among the first providers who have addressed this need for aluminum-free deodorants product solutions already in 2010. Based on our market data, we can see that antiperspirants with aluminum represent 55% of the global market. In Beiersdorf, we have deodorants in the brands NIVEA, Hidrofugal, and 8X4.
I would like to address the questions to the supervisory board. Most of them are asked by Mr. Kraus. If I answer them, Mr. Neumann may check if his questions during the six minutes that were lost might have been answered, and we don't need to read them out again. After these answers, there are no further requests to speak. There's just one additional one by Mr. Giebel. We are nearing the end of the debate. If you have any further questions that you would like to ask, please click on the button for video communication in the AGM system. Now, most questions, as I said, were asked by Mr. Kraus on remuneration. Whether it correlates with the share price development, if so, and if not, why not?
Well, as all remunerations, they correlate with the activities of the respective person and the results, and they are connected to the business, and we strongly put a focus on that with a high variable share in the remuneration. We are convinced that this connection to the business over the long run is the most reliable one to correlate with the share price, because the share price should correlate with the success of the business, but that does not hold true every single time. Over the long-term consideration and with the main part of the remuneration, that is over four years, that should be quite all right. There was a question also for the share acquisitions by the Executive Board or the Supervisory Board. Well, the share holdings and the movements are published by the company and can be viewed.
In the wake of the share price reduction, there were acquisitions amounting to EUR 40 million coming from the Executive and Supervisory Board members, and that might express what the Executive Board tried to express in terms of conviction. Mr. Giebel had a question on the correlation between the joy and the suffering of shareholders and the Executive Board. We believe that this is very well reflected with this extraordinarily high variable share in the remuneration and the very high share of long-term remuneration in the variable remuneration. We hope that the Executive Board is participating to the right amount in the joy, hopefully the joy and the suffering of shareholders. We wish for the Executive Board to exclusively achieve its targets and its remuneration, because that is the best for all of us.
Should an Executive Board member have the idea of renouncing to his remuneration, I would reserve the right to consider whether we want to accept that, because we want to stick to the contracts, and we definitely want Executive Board members to achieve their bonus targets, because that is best for all of us. Remaining terms for the Executive Board members. We have terms running to 2028, 2029, and 2030, and there is a succession planning for the Supervisory Board and for each of the Executive Board members with their responsibilities. We are now all in the first year, shortly after the first quarter of the first year of the terms of the contracts that had just been renewed. Now, is the variable remuneration linked to mainly long-term targets? Yes, and this to a very, very large extent.
A multiple of the relatively small short-term remuneration is structured as a long-term variable remunerations. It's by far higher than the fixed remuneration. When it comes to ESG KPIs, those targets are also included in the remuneration. I am going to come back to that in a minute. There are no one-off special payments. There were none, neither in 2025. It's just contractual payments that have been agreed upon. There have been two transitional payments in 2025. One Executive Board member received a sum to settle variable entitlements under the old remuneration system because we wanted to adjust the remuneration system during a term so that everybody was under the same remuneration system. The old remuneration system, which would have continued for that particular Executive Board member, had to be terminated.
We made an estimate of how much component, given the determined target achievement until 2024, and this is how we got to the calculated amount that was rounded up slightly, but it was mathematically calculated. Mr. Rasquinet normally would have received a corresponding payment for the short remaining term of his contract. As for these six months, there would not have been a measurement. There were no six-month targets. Therefore, we have paid him a lump sum under an estimated normal target achievement. The next question related to the discretionary adjustments. I already mentioned a few words about that. In the annual bonus 2025, we have done this once again, derived from the remuneration system and mainly from the contracts. We took the entire discretionary amount of 20% applied to achieving 70% of the targets.
The annual bonus makes up 7%, so all of this has an impact on the remuneration of the Executive Board members of clearly less than 1% per Executive Board member. It is around 0.5%. I spoke about 1% in order not to be overly precise. The ESG targets in the annual bonus 2025, ESG targets were only accounted for to the amount of 2%. In the previous year, they had weighed in at a much higher level. In some individual targets, they were also contained, and this is why in 2025, they were higher than the joint targets.
In the remuneration system where the long-term remuneration is much higher than the annual bonus, the ESG targets are very strongly contained, and the long-term annual tranche that is ongoing right now for the next three years, they are accounted for at the level of 20% with the sustainability Scope 1 to Scope 3 emissions on the one hand, and succession planning. In the previous long-term tranche, it was even 40% that the ESG targets amounted for. What weight the ESG targets have is determined by the specific ratio within the base of business that we see when we set the targets. Those were the questions as far as I understand that the Supervisory Board had to answer. Mr. Gaebler, you had another question or a follow-up question, please. Go ahead, Mr. Gaebler.
Yes. Thank you, Chair. Now my first follow-up question concerns deodorants. In the reply, I think the definitions are still not clear. I'm talking about deodorants and antiperspirants. Deodorants, Desodorans in German, combat odors and the others, antiperspirants, combat sweating. Now you're talking about aluminum, if I remember correctly. We can say that the effectiveness or the effect of aluminum in antiperspirants is such that it clogs up the glands that produce sweat, and that is why people are reluctant to use them. Now, in the final sentence, it was the deodorants that were mentioned are Hidrofugal and 8X4. When I look at Hidrofugal, I know that this is actually an antiperspirant. It is not a deodorant. And in 8X4, I actually don't know all of the different variants, but the ones that I do know are also antiperspirants.
I would like to ask you to separate these terms from one another and please tell me the turnover and the margins of both groups. I haven't heard the figures. I only heard 50% in Germany are antiperspirants, but I would like to get separated figures for deodorants and antiperspirants, the turnovers and margins for each of them that our company produces for each of these two product groups. Responding to question 58, you said that alcohol is used in quantities that are common on the market, and possibly to what extent they're used in deodorants was not mentioned, and you said that it was not harmful to human health. Now, please let me know what the threshold values are or the legal limits that according to the evaluation is considered not harmful to human health. Is there a specific limit that can be defined?
I would be interested in this specific value. Now, with regard to tesa, thank you for the reply that you are actually heavily represented or engaged in the automotive sector. If you have turnover of EUR 240 million there, then I would be interested to know what the EBITDA and what the margins are that you generate with this turnover, or that you have generated in the last three completed financial years. The reply with regard to the transcript, it was clear that Solaria One is hosted in France, and it was also said that it is only used for the transcription. When responding to the question of Mr. Giebel, however, you said that a stenographer was doing this. This is a contradiction. If you use shorthand for the questions, then you don't need transcription systems. So may I just ask you to repeat your reply?
Do you use transcription systems for the recording of the replies of the shareholders, or are the replies actually taken down and in shorthand? With regard to the sachets, I am surprised about your reply because the majority of the executive board worked at L'Oréal previously. That's a French company, and so I would just like to add here that a sachet is the diminutive of a sack, and sack referred to the small lavender sacks that were put into the linen compartments in the past and that are now being used for these kinds of products. If someone asks what sachets are, then the answer that it's just a French term is maybe a little bit limited. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Giebel. I assume that we cannot reply to these questions off the cuff. Are there any further questions or requests to speak?
Oh, there is one indeed. Yes, I have the questions regarding China just before we receive the other replies. Now, with regard to the question by Mr. Giebel, question 59, anti-pigmentation products in Asia. The question was whether many people use this and what the turnover is that you generate with anti-pigmentation products in China and what your planned turnover is. Yes, absolutely right. China is indeed the biggest market for brightening products, and it continues to grow. At the end of 2024, we were able to register the active ingredient Thiamidol successfully, and that meant that we had the first new brightening ingredient that was placed in the Chinese market since more than 12 years, the first one that was approved in 12 years. That allowed us to go into the local market. Previously, we only managed to do that via Hong Kong.
We are now present in the local market. However, as you correctly observed, we are only present on or represented online with Eucerin and NIVEA. We've already seen very positive business results for Eucerin in the first quarter of 2025. We launched a new product, and we had a very strong financial year with a turnover growth of +88%. For NIVEA, in the fourth quarter of 2024, that was the entry into the domestic market. Here we also had very positive signals, including an increase in the online market share by 144 basis points. I can also confirm to you that both products enjoy very high marketing investments. They are supported by these marketing investments. Then your next question 61, what are you doing in China with regard to advertising? Are you also using influencers?
Please do let us know how it all works. Yes, you're absolutely right. As I just said, we are represented in the online business with these products and market brand communication and advertising happens almost exclusively in the digital realm, so via Douyin, Tmall, and the different platforms that also sell products. The digital platforms are the central channels in China. Here, this is where consumers discover, evaluate, and buy products. Classical channels such as external advertising and TV actually play a less significant role compared to other countries. There's social commerce, meaning direct purchases via social networks with live streaming formats, where we actually have influencers or key opinion leaders, and these people advertise the product, so we use them very intensively. Now, this marketing strategy is actually adjusted to consumer behavior in China. Much for my answers with regard to China.
I believe we have a further request to speak by Mr. Benning. Mr. Benning? No. Well, all right, then. I believe we'll need a couple of minutes to get the answers on the last questions that were raised. Just to ensure a certain planability for everyone, let me suggest a 15-minute break. That gives everyone the opportunity to have a coffee or something else, and I would like to restart here. I would like to reconvene at 1:43 P.M., so 15 minutes from now. Oh, and excuse me. After that, I believe that we can close question time. If anyone has any other questions they would like to raise, please do so. Once we've dealt with the remaining questions, I would like to close the general debate on this. Thank you. I'll see you back here at 1:43 P.M.
[Break]
Welcome back. We continue the annual general meeting. I have requests to speak from Mr. Gaebler and Mr. Benning. Maybe also from Mr. Giebel. Let's start with Mr. Gaebler. Mr. Gaebler, it is your turn. The floor is yours.
Yes, thank you for giving me the floor again. In principle, you answered all of my questions. I would just like to follow up on one or two things. It would be my wish that the Executive Board expresses at least a small commitment to tackle the share price. Now, of course, I know the procedure, I know the markets, but I think it's about sending a signal here. Let me formulate it in a different way. Could the Executive Board imagine to actually look at their own pockets in this regard? Let me also talk about two further points. First of all, the tesa MOON program, this great product from stainless steel, hooks that can be stuck to the bathroom walls. I think the product in the current form is an error because products of this type are sold in DIY store.
It's not like food retail stores when there is a sell-by date. A sausage, for instance, is only good for a week, and then the employees have to sort them out. Here you have a product that's made from stainless steel in general. That means their lifetime, their lifespan is actually unlimited. The problem is the adhesive in which has a lifetime of around 1 years-2 years, and from the outside, you can't see how old the hook is. It's a product that costs around EUR 15, so I never kept the receipt. I can't go to the DIY store and reclaim my money. In general, I think it's a strategic error here in the entire product palette because in theory you need to sell the product separately from the adhesive. That would be the right strategy.
You could just offer all of the stainless steel products separately and write on the packaging a notice to consumers saying, "Please also buy the adhesive along with it, which you can find next to it on the shelf," and that would solve the problem. The employees could actually sort out the adhesives every two years when they reach the end of their lifetime. Is that a problem? Because I think the customers just get frustrated. They just throw that product away, they're disappointed, and you don't even get this kind of feedback. Here I would say to go into a reflective process and ask yourselves whether it is the right approach to actually market products that in themselves are great in this way. With regard to deodorants and antiperspirants.
I'm just going to make a little joke now, and then that's it with my questions. In the beginning of my statement, I said that the pressure is too high. I'm just going to show you. I have a spray can here. I'm just going to hold it outside of the camera. You can see it. I don't know if you see a slight mist here coming from the spray. Now this is NIVEA. You can see, it says spray it at a distance of 15 cm. If I do that, I still end up inhaling it. Instead of ending up in my armpit, it ends up in my lungs and especially comical given that it says on the spray can that it's not to be inhaled. I think this can is simply under way too much pressure.
It may just be my perception, but do take it as a nudge to reflect on whether the pressure is set in the correct way. Now, Mr. Pöllath, let me not forget one question. You are a DAX company, so I think you are the DAX company with one of the shortest AGMs. With Deutsche Bank, for instance, the AGMs go until six or eight o'clock. I think it would be good if you could deal with these topics a little more intensively, and then I'm also going to spare you any further questions. Thank you. Let me hand the floor back to you.
Thank you, Mr. Gaebler. We have another request to speak. At least that was the order I had taken. Mr. Benning. Mr. Benning and then Mr. Giebel.
My questions are directed to Mr. Barckhahn following his responses. I am a shareholder and also someone working in this field. I'm interested in the clarity and the science behind the products, for long-term trust and value. Over the past years, La Prairie sales have declined. While the brand continues to position itself as high-end science, my question again is, Caviar Micronutrients, what are they? The starting gambit of today's AGM was all about science and about molecules and about the brilliance of Beiersdorf's technologies. Caviar Micronutrients doesn't say anything. I'm clearly asking, can he explain in simple terms what they actually are and how they're clearly identified? Second, you discussed the ingredients for the skin, but what is it itself? I know there's no understanding of what these are.
It's a very broad term, over 300 micronutrients, and yet one molecule is actually pertinent to Beiersdorf's future in skin science. With 300 micronutrients, then what are they? Or even like three or four of them. One thing I did pick up on, which I did find quite interesting, was the statement that the brand goes beyond Caviar, and Skin Caviar is the brand's identity. More than 60% of the products have Caviar extract in them. To state that basically Caviar is only a very small part of the products is not defeatist, especially in the marketing and the point of sale and the relationship with Caviar, et cetera. I wanted to ask more about that. If that is the case, then why is the line Skin Caviar?
If Caviar is not that important, then what's going to come further down the line if you don't think that Caviar is that important to the brand? Lastly, it was really again about the consumers being more informed. Going back to the Caviar Micronutrients. If the consumer wants to know about this, I want to know about this, and what is the message being put across to the consumers? Again, it comes back to the point, my understanding is they're very dominant in Caviar marketing, in Hydro Caviar, in Caviar complex, and it's basically all about Caviar. I'm a bit amused why today Oswald has stated that Caviar is only a very small part of the brand identity of La Prairie. Thank you very much for listening.
Thank you. I do not have any further requests to speak on my screen. Let me start with the answers. Mrs. Hermann.
Yeah, we noted it down as question 67 by Mr. Giebel. It was about the system that we use for the recording of the questions. The question whether shorthand is used or whether a different type of recording system is used, and I can just clarify the following here. The recording of the questions of the shareholders is done exclusively by the stenographers used, so in a very traditional fashion. Of course, we need a system to do so. This is also a system that is used for the simultaneous interpretation of the AGM. Moving on, I could also talk or reply to question 67 by Mr. Giebel, the automotive question and the interest that he expressed in the EBITDA margin and the development of this margin in the last three years.
Now, in the automotive sector, we differentiate ourselves or we set ourselves apart with innovative solutions, and we also earn very healthy margins because of that, but we don't necessarily want to publish them here. They have had stable development, stable because the automotive sector hasn't developed very positively. However, tesa could actually catch up with this trend by winning over new projects, so with new automotive models, and that's where the tesa solutions could be placed. I would address Mr. Giebel's question once more. Sachet means literally little bag or little sack. If a shareholder asks what sachets are, the answer in French is not enough. Well, a sachet is indeed a little bag in German. Another question by Mr. Giebel.
Question 65 is the question about alcohol. Please mention the threshold value that is considered without risk to health. By law, the use and the concentration of alcohol in cosmetic products is not regulated. When talking about deodorants and antiperspirants, the use of alcohol is in part assessed critically, as high concentrations of alcohol can lead to a burning sensation if you use them on the shaved armpits. This is why we only use as much alcohol as necessary so we avoid these sensations. Generally, the use of alcohol in cosmetic products is not harmful as alcohol is not or hardly absorbed via the skin. The biggest chunk of the alcohol content is evaporated shortly after applying.
I have a question by Mr. Gaebler, 70. Can executive board members imagine to dig deeper into their own pockets given the share price and buy Beiersdorf shares in the markets?
Well, as a matter of principle, the executive board is convinced of the long-term value and the perspectives of Beiersdorf. The decisions made are always personal decisions. Independently of that, the focus of the executive board is clearly on being consistent in the operational implementation, sustainable growth, and disciplined capital allocation in order to create value. If we achieve good results here in the long run, this will also be translated into a corresponding share price. I would address question 71 relating to tesa MOON. We are happy to take your suggestions. We will forward this to the tesa team and then we will see what we can do with that. Thank you very much for your suggestion. Mr. Gaebler, the AGM is not the preferred way to hear from our consumers, but it's great.
Send it to me, I will take care of it, and then we will talk about it. I think there are still some questions, at least those for Mr. Benning on La Prairie. Do we have something there?
Yes. Thank you very much, Mr. Benning. Obviously, I have no formal answer by the back office, so I'm just going to wing it, and I cannot give you numbers, but for the first question on understanding the Caviar Micronutrients, I do understand that obviously you would like to know in detail what it means and what is in there. But if this was the AGM of Coca-Cola, I would say that's the Coca-Cola formula, and obviously, we're not going to disclose it. It is a complex of which we are convinced that it represents a competitive edge for us.
It has proven its worth over decades, and unfortunately, when it comes to the details of the formula, I cannot provide any further information. The second part, the relevance of Caviar and the complex within the overall business of La Prairie, I just want to state that it is obviously a very important ingredient for the brand, but the great thing is that the brand is much bigger than the Caviar complex, it's less than 50% of the turnover. We have so many more technologies and formulations that make La Prairie what it is today, and that is the top brand in the premium segment. As I said, the Exclusive Cellular Complex is also a proprietary technology that we have and that allows us as well to offer things to the consumer that they cannot find anywhere else. Thank you very much.
I have not been notified of any additional answers. Is there anything else?
There is something else. This was the follow-up question on deodorants. We use deodorants as a generic term. You are correct. Within this category, there are deodorants and antiperspirants, and I can give you the breakdown now in terms of the turnover 2020. NIVEA Deo, EUR 1.6 billion, of which deodorants EUR 260 million and AP antiperspirants, EUR 1.3 billion. 8X4 Deo is just deodorant, EUR 62 million and Hidrofugal, EUR 49 million, and that's exclusively antiperspirants.
I have no further answers. I'm just waiting for a few seconds to see if there are more requests for the floor. As far as I see it, there are no more requests for the floor. In a few moments we will come to a close of the general debate. Thank you very much. No more requests for the floor. No more questions lined up. I note that all answers have been provided and I close the general debate. Thank you very much for all your questions. Please ask again next year how things have developed. The notary will make a note of this in the minutes, noting that we are closing the general debate and we now proceed to the votes. I will try to do this in an expeditious manner.
The resolution on agenda Items 26 are called up collectively and recorded separately for each agenda item. As chairman of the meeting, I decide the vote to be held according to the electronic method. If you have not already made use of the option of postal voting or authorizations with instructions to the company's voting representative, your affirmative votes and votes against will now be recorded via the AGM system. You must also vote actively if you wish to cast an affirmative vote or wish to abstain. Do not only cast a vote if you want to give a vote against. Please also actively vote if you wish to cast an affirmative vote and abstain.
The votes to be cast as instructed by the company's voting representative and your votes already cast by postal vote are pre-recorded in the AGM system and will be released and taken into account once the voting system is closed. You can change votes already cast or instructions to the proxy until the end of the voting via the AGM system. I would ask you to cast your affirmative votes, your votes against, or your abstentions, if you have not already done so now, but at the latest after the summary of the proposed resolutions. I will now briefly summarize the resolutions proposed by the management on agenda Items two to six. They are included in the invitation to the annual general meeting. Item two: Appropriation of retained profits 2025. A dividend of 1 EUR per dividend-bearing share will be distributed from the 2025 net retained profits of EUR 242,600,000.
The remaining EUR 24 million will be allocated to other retained earnings. The treasury shares held by the company are not entitled. Item three: The actions of the members of the Executive Board are to be granted approval of the 2025 financial year. The members of the Executive Board of the Supervisory Board but have not made use of voting rights for the approval of their own actions if they represent their own shares or shares belonging to third parties. This has been pointed out to them and they have taken appropriate precautions. PricewaterhouseCoopers GmbH auditing company Frankfurt am Main is to be appointed as the auditor for the 2026 annual financial statements and consolidated financial statements for any review of the 2026 half-year financial report and for any audit of the sustainability reporting for 2026. Their statement of independence is available. Item six: That's the remuneration report.
We ask you to adopt it and to approve it. I already talked about this in my report, and it is available on our website and on pages 342-370 of the German version of the 2025 annual report. I now call for the votes on agenda Items two to six as published in the Federal Gazette on the 3rd of March 2026. Please now cast your votes either into the AGM system by postal vote or by authorizing and instructing your company's voting representative. Changes can only be done for a very short period of time, as well as revoking your vote. If you have several cards, you have to repeat the process for every individual card. Please vote now. The voting system will still be open for another two minutes.
I will let you know once 60 seconds will have passed, and then after another minute, I will close the voting process. You have two minutes from now on.
Sixty seconds to go from now. 60 seconds to go.
Thank you very much. Those two minutes have expired. As announced, I hereby close the vote. Thank you very much for your votes. The results will be determined and in a few minutes we will announce them. Let's give ourselves five minutes. We meet again in five minutes from now. That will be 2:12 P.M.
[Break]
Thank you very much for waiting. Welcome back to our AGM. We have now received the voting results, and in order to make it easier for you, we counted the votes cast and we also showed the affirmative votes and the negative votes, and we show them in the stream. The information displayed can then be followed easier. They are part of my establishment of the adoption of the resolutions, and they contain all the information of the full wording in accordance with legal requirements. The detailed voting results will also be available on our website after the AGM. I am now only giving you the resolutions.
I establish that the Item was.
Exclusion of voting rights was observed. I establish and announce that the administration's proposed resolution has thus been adopted with the majority vote as 99.6%.
Thank you very much also on behalf of the shareholders and to the shareholders. Item four, exclusion of the voting rights was observed. I establish and announce that the administration's proposed resolution has thus been adopted by a majority of 97.11%. On behalf of my colleagues of the Supervisory Board, I would also like to thank you for your trust. Thank you very much. Item 5A, appointment of the auditor and the auditor for any review on behalf of the half-year financial report and B, sustainability report. 5A, I establish and announce that the Supervisory Board's proposed resolution was adopted by a majority of 99.99%. Now sustainability reporting. I establish and announce that the Supervisory Board's proposed resolution was adopted with a majority of 99.99%. Finally, agenda item six. Remuneration Report 2025.
I establish and announce that the administration's proposed resolution was adopted by a majority of 78.14%. 78.14%.
All the resolutions have been passed. We have covered the agenda. Thank you very much for your participation and for your critical and fact-based comments. Thank you very much for everybody who helped preparing this and implemented this AGM. We also thank all interested parties who followed the AGM in the stream. The AGM of next year is expected to take place on the 22nd of April. Until then, I wish you all the best. Think of our products and all the best to you, to all the consumers using our products, and for all those who produce them, invent them, and sell them. All the best. See you next year. Have a wonderful summer.